LENS

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LASER ENGINEERED NET SHAPING

ANOTHER RAPID PROTOTYPING PROCESS!

Net-shape = Final shape Uses metal powder Powder is supplied coaxially

along with laser

UNBEATABLE WHEN IT COMES TO REPAIR

Gear with broken tooth

Gear with tooth by LENS

Mass

COMPONENTS
SANDIA LABSOPTOMEC
Nd:YAG laser with six

inch focal length plano convex lens

Hermetically sealed

glass enclosure , backfilled with argon, operating at a nominal oxygen level of 2-3 parts per million.
Base plate with 3-axis

computer controlled positioning system

Powderfeed unit

PROCEDURE
High power laser melts site of deposition Powder deposited by nozzle into hot-spot Laser builds cross-section in raster-scan fashion Table lowered by layer thickness New layer constructed on top of previous layer Repeat process till build is complete Melt pool protected by inert gases

APPLICATIONS
Metal components made of state-of-the-art materials such as

titanium and Inconel

Medical implants Material discovery-Aluminide composites, Tic Hybrid manufacturing- product enhancement

PROCESS VARIABLES
Component velocity Laser irradiance Z-axis increment (thickness of layer) Powder volumetric flow rate.

DIAGNOSTICS
Laser Doppler velocimetry for powder flow and relative density of the

powder Time resolved infrared imaging for thermal characteristics High magnification, high speed digital imaging and standard video imaging Material build-up height, the melt depth into the previous layer

POWDER SIZE
Particles do not become molten until they are actually injected

into the melted metal puddle in the deposition region

For smaller particle sizes , the melt puddle appeared to be stable

and well behaved.

For larger particle size distributions, the molten puddle was very

energetic and unstable

Directing the larger particles into the molten deposition region

causes a larger displacement of the liquid metal thus adding more energy to the oscillations of the melt pool
Surface finish of 12-25 micrometre

MATERIAL PROPERTIES
Tests revealed properties to be as good or even better than

casted/wrought parts
Textured growth of the deposited material occurred across the

deposition layer boundary in nearly all cases for thin-walled parts

Little inter-granular melting in the substrate region The absence of equilibrium and metastable phases in the

microstructures suggest the very high cooling rates associated with LENS process

SOME FACTS
Roughly eight feet long, eight feet high

and 3.5 feet wide.

$350,000 to $500,000 Dimensions in the X-Y plane could be

maintained to less than 0.002 inches(0.02 mm).

The dimension in the Z or growth

direction could only be maintained within 0.015 inches.