How DED Technology Has Changed the Manufacturing Industry

Technology helps the world in almost every industry sector, but it also embellishes our lives on an individual level, every day. For some years now, DED technology has helped to repair parts that were broken, build larger ones and enabled designers to create more complex objects. These are a few of the benefits that this technology brought along. Let’s have a closer look at the situation.

What is DED?

DED (Directed Energy Deposition) is an additive manufacturing technology that uses laser or another heat source to melt and fuse metal powder or wire. Its goal is to build parts or to repair broken ones. DED additive manufacturing has been around in various forms since the 1980s. Its first commercial implementation happened in the 1990s, with the development of laser cladding systems. Since then, the technology has continued to evolve and today it is widely used in various industries.

What is DED Technology used for?

The very first use of DED additive manufacturing was to repair parts and components. Since it could easily add material where the piece was broken, it became the easiest and best solution on the market, when it came to extending the life of equipment and machinery. As soon as it was launched, it also helped to create large parts that had been difficult to build before. For example, you can create turbine blade molds and aerospace components, which in many cases tend to take lots of space, in just one single piece. This may just seem like an incredible feat, but technically speaking, it is much more important than that, as it reduces the need for assembly and eliminates potential weak points that could arise from linking multiple components together. To acquire such machines, you need to contact a highly specialized company such as AddUp Solutions.

How can DED help create Better Parts?

When it comes to customized parts, it is difficult to find a better manufacturing technology than DED. That is because it offers a great design flexibility to those who imagine and draw such pieces. It has enabled the specialists to create parts for specific applications, enabling innovation to reach new heights. Since it is possible to use various materials through DED additive manufacturing, such as alloys or coatings, it is possible to enhance the part in order to increase its strength and to make it more resistant to corrosion or to heat. Therefore, easy customization and a potential mix of materials are how DED is able to create better parts than other manufacturing processes.

An Environmentally Friendly Technology

This technology uses the exact amount of material that it needs, in order to create a part or to repair it. This means that it creates little to no waste at all. Since this is precisely one of the problems that we need to solve in our society (too much waste), DED can be considered as an environmentally friendly manufacturing process. If any material is loss on the premise around the machine, it can be collected and reused on the next part.