Meltio builds metal AM World Cup trophy after Spain victory
Meltio, headquartered in Linares, Spain, has additively manufactured its own version of the football World Cup trophy, following Spain’s recent win. Meltio’s stainless steel version of the famous trophy, measuring 29.5 cm tall, 13 cm in diameter and weighing 13 kg, was completed in a 20-hour build.
The trophy, which originated as a light-hearted concept within the company during the tournament, was built at Meltio’s facility using the Meltio Engine integration kit, which mounts the company’s laser deposition head on a robot arm.
Meltio stated that the geometry is among the more challenging forms to produce using metal Additive Manufacturing due to its continuous curvature, a cross-section that changes along the whole height, lack of flat reference surfaces, and overhangs from the base to the top.
Meltio’s Laser Metal Deposition technology, a laser-based wire Directed Energy Deposition (DED) process, feeds standard commercial welding wire into a melt pool created by lasers, building the part layer by layer close to its final shape. Meltio states that using wire instead of metal powder makes the process cleaner and safer to operate, reduces material waste, and requires less machining than an equivalent component cut from solid stock.
