Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing

We believe that Additive Manufacturing (3D printing) is not a trend, but the future. That’s why we’re working relentlessly to push 3D-printed parts out of their current restrictive limitations and into a growing number of applications. We don’t only set up facilities in Africa, but we also have our own so that we can stay ahead of the technology and develop real-world training and solutions for our various customers and partners. The image below highlights some of the advantages of 3D Printing and why the technology is a great fit for Africa. From reduced lead times for components at the point of need, to low energy usage, it’s hard to think that manufacturing was done differently in the past.

Our Technologies

We have a number of additive manufacturing technologies at our facility and for metals, we focus on Direct Metal Laser Melting and Laser Metal Deposition technologies. We can assist with proof of concept parts as well as setting up a digital inventory for your company to manage supply chain constraints.

Direct Metal Laser Melting

Direct metal laser melting (DMLM) is a Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) technology that creates metal parts by selectively melting thin layers (15 to 100 μm) of metal powder using a high-powered laser. This includes direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), direct metal printing (DMP), and selective laser melting (SLM). These technologies and systems are fundamentally the same and even use the same laser and scanner sources.

We utilise GE Additive’s Concept Laser DMLM technology as they are one of the leading users of metal additive manufacturing in the Aerospace and Defense industries.

Laser Metal Deposition

Wire Laser Metal Deposition (W-LMD) is a Directed Energy Deposition (DED) process that functions by precisely stacking weld beads on top of one another, in wire form, when introduced into the laser generated melt pool. Meltio’s multi-material printing technology comes packaged in a compact deposition head that has the laser, wire, and shielding gas all strategically focused to the point of printing.

At HH Industries we use Meltio’s technology because it is a proven game-changer for metal printing of large metal components for the Mining, Oil & Gas and Defense industries.