Application-oriented laser melting for mould making

Mr. Erwin Gottschall founded LPT in 1995 to provide working resources in metal and other special materials. It quickly became apparent that mould-makers are shirking welding, but like to make use of this as a service. In addition, he recognised the significance of laser technology at a very early stage and relied on the fact that the mould-maker generally does not wish to apply the process of generative laser melting itself.

Firstly this is because the technology requires specific knowledge and secondly also because capacitively it cannot always be used in an economically viable way by the mould-makers. LPT filled this gap in the market with 12 branches and a technical facility for metal laser melting. Depending on the particular LPT site, components weighing up to 5,000 kg can be processed. Over 2000 customers place their trust in the technical possibilities offered by LPT. Expertise which Mr. Gottschall justifies by offering a customer-focused consulting service: "For certain applications, we recommend that the customer uses conventional technology if this is more efficient. If our welding technology offers advantages, then we offer them. When it comes to close-contour cooling, we familiarise the customers with the artistic possibilities that LaserCUSING offers in collaboration with Concept Laser. The aim is to offer a method which is as effective as it is economical. He added that LPT differs from the competition because of the technology-independent advice and execution it is able to offer. The LaserCUSING division is in direct contact with the customer and the team looks after all aspects of component design, construction, welding technology, and LaserCUSING right through to working out the close-contour cooling. 

Flexibility assured

LPT was one of the first companies back in 2004 to invest in a Concept Laser M3 linear machine for manufacturing large laser melted components and small batches. In recent years, the metal laser melting technology has made enormous development strides in terms of laser power, pace of construction and component quality. To ensure that the company could continue to remain competitive in the area of generative metal laser melting in the future, in 2010 LPT invested in a state-of-the-art M1 cusing machine. The equipment at the technical facility was completed with the addition of a QM Powder module. The automatic sieving station continuously safeguards the powder quality and thus the component quality too.

When it comes to boosting performance and exploiting the options available, the training measures of Concept Laser are important for keeping LPT in good shape. LPT utilises the CAD training course "Conformal Cooling" for the purpose of applying the cooling-channel design of Hofmann in Lichtenfels. Suppliers and users also maintain close contact in respect of maintenance concepts on the LaserCUSING machines. 

Possibilities of hybrid technology

The formative residual geometry including the remaining cooling-channel design can be "fused" onto a prefabricated basic body, with predrilled feed and drain holes for the cooling, by means of LaserCUSING. This procedure is patented by Concept Laser. According to LPT, this mixed type of construction has already proven to be the fastest and most economical method in many cases.

A very important aspect is the principle of close-contour cooling from Concept Laser which begins 2 to 3 mm below the mould contour. There are a very wide range of forms for the coolingchannel design. The most proven and most frequently used coolingchannel variants are surface cooling and parallel cooling. Whereas close-contour cooling with one channel may be sufficient for normal parts, close-contour parallel cooling with several short cooling circuits may improve the quality and cycle element in the case of sophisticated injection-moulded parts. With parallel cooling, more coolant is dNike Jordan Super Fly 4