What is DMLS?
Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) is a 3D metal printing technology that creates complex and highly precise metal parts by melting metal powders layer by layer. This technology introduces significant innovations to engineering and manufacturing processes.
Features
- High-Precision Manufacturing: Complex and detailed structures can be produced with exceptional accuracy.
- Application Areas: Widely used in industries such as aerospace, automotive, medical devices, and mold manufacturing.
Advantages
- Conformal Cooling: Enables the production of specially designed cooling systems in molds, reducing cycle times and improving part quality.
- Material Efficiency: Only the required amount of material is used, minimizing waste.
- Design Flexibility: Allows for the creation of intricate designs and internal structures that are difficult or impossible with conventional methods.
- Rapid Production: Shorter production times compared to traditional manufacturing enable faster prototyping and product realization.
DMLS offers a powerful alternative to conventional manufacturing techniques, providing superior performance especially in applications that demand high precision, durability, and design freedom.
Material Diversity
Maraging STEEL
- Properties: High hardness, wear resistance, and excellent machinability.
- Applications: Commonly used in injection molds, forging dies, and metal forming tools.
- Advantages: Delivers long service life and retains performance at elevated temperatures.
Aluminum
- Properties: Lightweight, high thermal conductivity, good corrosion resistance.
- Applications: Aerospace, automotive, electronic components, and lightweight tooling.
- Advantages: Provides energy efficiency due to its light weight and is easy to machine.
Stainless Steel
- Properties: High corrosion resistance, durability, and low maintenance.
- Applications: Medical devices, food processing equipment, chemical plants, and architectural structures.
- Advantages: Long-lasting and hygienic due to its stainless nature.
Inconel
- Properties: Exceptional strength at extreme temperatures, oxidation and corrosion resistance.
- Applications: Aerospace, power generation (gas turbines), chemical industry, and marine equipment.
- Advantages: Maintains mechanical integrity under high temperatures, ensuring reliability in harsh environments.
These materials, when processed through advanced technologies like DMLS, enable the creation of more complex designs and high-performance components.
Primary Applications of DMLS
Conformal Cooling and Its Benefits
Conformal cooling focuses on efficiently cooling injected plastic material through precisely designed channels. When the plastic melt is cooled uniformly, internal stresses are minimized—resulting in superior part quality with reduced warping or shrinkage. In addition, significantly lower scrap rates translate to considerable cost savings. Transitioning from a traditional mold to one equipped with conformal cooling channels can dramatically increase production efficiency. Moreover, accurate control of mold temperature extends the mold’s service life and reduces the need for costly replacements.
Preferred Material: MS1 Maraging Steel
In DMLS mold production, MS1 Maraging Steel is commonly used due to its high hardness and durability. After post-processing, its hardness can be increased to 54 Rockwell (HRC). This approach reduces cycle times, lowers production costs, and enhances product quality.
