Meltio Has Launched New Materials, Allowing for Parts With Guaranteed Properties for a Broader Range of Industries

Meltio, an international manufacturer of metal 3D solutions based in Spain and the US, has announced that it is launching four new materials, Stainless Steel 17-4PH, Tool Steel H11, Nickel 625 and Invar, as part of its metal wire materials range. These materials have been designed to help their users to expand applications as they have been optimized for use with Meltio solutions. The move not only shows the maturity of Meltio’s own LMD technology, but also is expected to help push adoption of metal 3D printing through Meltio’s cost-effective products by allowing for less guessing when it comes to printer parameters.

Earlier this year Meltio released its first launch of materials. These were designed to be optimized for use with Meltio’s own solutions namely the Meltio M450 3D printer, the Meltio Engine CNC Integration and the Meltio Engine Robotic Integration, products which have already been adopted by major players in industry including Phillips Corporation. Though the company has kept an open material system, ensuring that users do not need to use their materials to have excellent results, Meltio’s own materials have been extensively tested under controlled conditions. They are intended to provide users with materials that have validated part properties and optimized print parameters. The first round centered on common metals used with Meltio’s technology namely Stainless Steel 316L, Stainless Steel 308L, Mild Steel ER70S, Titanium 64 and Nickel 718. Now with this latest release the company aims to cater to an even broader audience as well as allowing for more niche applications.

Meltio has maintained an open materials system to drive the adoption of the technology.

For the development of materials, Meltio has focused on metal wire since its systems use a technology called laser metal deposition (LMD). LMD is a Directed Energy Deposition (DED) process, meaning that a focused energy source, in this case, multiple lasers are used to melt the deposited material as it goes through the nozzle, often wires. It has been gaining in popularity over the past few years thanks to its flexibility as well as the benefits of using wires over powder. Notably, they are safer, cleaner and easier to work with than many powders, plus they are often considered to be sustainable, a benefit when you consider that additive manufacturing in general is being posited as a way to help address growing environmental concerns.