Plus Manufacturing awarded US patent for wire-based DED process
Plus Mfg, LLC (+Mfg), Erlanger, Kentucky, USA, reports that its Advanced Metal Deposition (AMD™) process, a wire-based Directed Energy Deposition (DED) technology, has been granted a foundational patent by the United States patent and trademark office.
“We are pleased that the patent office has approved this first, leading patent,” stated Chris Macke, JD, +Mfg patent attorney. “This event has been long overdue, given that we initially applied for it in 2013. We now have the patent protection to fully pursue our current roll-out plans, confident in knowing we can protect the on-shore manufacturing and distribution of these systems.”
The company states that the AMD process fabricates metal parts more cleanly, safely, sustainably and less costly than traditional processes. Its features include quenching the parts during fabrication so that the part temperature is controlled throughout the fabrication process, building on a non-stick surface so that expensive substrates are not needed, allowing multiple materials in the same build so that the part performance and weight can be optimised and reduced energy input so that the environmental impact and operating costs are reduced.
Tom Kruer, co-inventor and +Mfg Chief Innovation Officer, commented, “This is a game-changing process for producing nearly any net-shape metal part in an environmentally responsible way. We refer to this as WAAM 3.0. +Mfg intends to spread the use of this amazing technology around the world in our effort to fundamentally change how metal manufacturing is done.”
