Hochproduktive additive Fertigung durch Extremes Hochgeschwindigkeits-Laserauftragschweißen (EHLA) am Beispiel der Strukturierung einer Dressierwalze

Existing manufacturing methods for surface structures commonly include subtractive processes such as shot blast texturing, discharge texturing , Laser texturing, discharge texturing, or electron beam texturing. By other manufacturing methods, such as or preussag texturing, the desired surface topography is deposited using electrochemical processes. Due to significant efforts in both time and material consumption, many manufacturers and end users are looking for a technology which is capable of delivering high productivity in combination with a flexible process. Both defined and reproducible surface textures as well as high degrees of freedom regarding the producible geometries and structures are required. Extreme High-Speed Laser Material Deposition (EHLA) is a process variant of Laser Material Deposition,) which has been patented by the Fraunhofer ILT. This process produces a metallurgically bonded and defect-free layer with thicknesses in the range of 50 – 250 µm at high productivity in combination with very low heat input to the substrate. For the first time this process was now demonstrated for the efficient structuring of skin-pass rollers. Resulting advantages are not only high productivity and increased efficiency in the use of resources, but also a wide processible material range as well as the possibility to combine different materials in one component. Additionally a re-melting of the welded structures was demonstrated to achieve a lowered and defined surface roughness. The material was deposited by relative movement of the processing head attached to an industrial robotic system. The used system technology is not only suitable for the texturing of skin-pass rollers but also for the application of free-form structures on three-dimensional geometries.