MELD Manufacturing Corporation launches operator training programme
February 12, 2019
MELD is a solid-state process which can use a wide range of materials as feedstock, including metal powders and rods (Courtesy MELD Manufacturing)
MELD Manufacturing Corporation, Christiansburg, Virginia, USA, has launched a new training programme that will give participants certification in operating its metal Additive Manufacturing machinery. The four-day courses will be hosted at MELD’s headquarters and attendees will receive both hands-on machine training and classroom instruction led by experts in the technology.
MELD’s technology is a unique no-melt process for the Additive Manufacturing, repairing, coating and joining of metals and metal matrix composites. The training course will review the history of how MELD was developed and aims to provide participants with a deeper understanding of its material compatibility, application capabilities and other properties.
Participants will also be instructed on identifying the required machine settings for the wide range of metals compatible with the technology and be taken through each step of the MELD process, from digital print file creation to deposition. Nanci Hardwick, MELD CEO, stated, “This programme creates certified MELDers and delivers the capacity to integrate and innovate with MELD. Our customers have raved about the elegance of the MELD process and the ease of training. We’re excited to offer more of these opportunities.”
MELD Manufacturing Corporation was launched in April 2018 as a spin-off of Aeroprobe Corporation, and holds more than a dozen patents for MELD, a solid-state process which can be used to manufacture, repair, alter and join parts using a wide range of feedstocks, including metal powders and rods. It can also be used with metal chips generated as the waste material in other manufacturing processes.
The MELD process is reported to deposit material at least ten times faster than fusion-based metal AM processes and is expected to find applications in a range of areas including the automotive, aerospace, defence and turbomachinery industries, with the company offering machine sales in addition to contract manufacturing and consulting services.
Since its launch, the technology has received the Rapid + TCT innovation award and won the SAE Create the Future Design Contest, been selected by the US Army as part of its inaugural Army Expeditionary Technology Search (xTechSearch), and been awarded funding by the USA’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) to support research into its use as a method for recycling battlefield scrap metal for repairs and manufacturing in the field.
