System Used for the Development of Hybrid Machining Techniques

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — June 12, 2012 — Optomec announced today that the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) has purchased an Optomec Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) system used for metal additive manufacturing applications. The LENS system, which has been installed at CCAT’s headquarters in East Hartford, Connecticut, will be primarily used to develop repair and hybrid manufacturing solutions for a broad range of industries. Click here for a video showing the LENS process.

The Optomec LENS 850-R System will provide CCAT’s Laser Applications Lab with the capability to address emerging challenges in the field of additive manufacturing. Dr. Tom Maloney, Director of Technology, Research and Applications Initiative and Principal Investigator of the National Aerospace Leadership Initiative (NALI), states, “LENS has already proven itself as a powerful tool for use in repair and refurbishment applications. We intend to build upon this success to create solutions that will provide the means to both accelerate and validate these processes, and will, together with our Machining Applications Lab, develop hybrid machining techniques that explore how currently insular processes may be combined to provide cost, quality and time benefits.”

Optomec's LENS Additive Manufacturing systems are used to cost-effectively fabricate, enhance, and repair high-performance metal components in materials such as titanium, stainless steel, and Inconel®. LENS systems use the energy from a high-power laser to build up structures one layer at a time directly from powdered metals. The resulting fully functional 3-dimensional components have excellent mechanical properties, equivalent to forged components for many applications. LENS systems can be used throughout the entire product lifecycle for applications ranging from Materials Research to Functional Prototyping. For more information on LENS, click here.

Dave Ramahi, Optomec President/CEO, states that “CCAT is a state-of-the-art facility that is breaking new ground in the development of additive manufacturing and repair techniques. The LENS 850-R system combined with CCAT’s renowned expertise will help advance U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.”

CCAT combines expertise in cutting-edge manufacturing technology with specialized centers of excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, workforce strategy and alternative energy solutions. CCAT’s goal is to help organizations increase efficiencies, improve workforce development and boost competitiveness. The organization promotes partnerships between industry, academia and government to create a new collaborative framework for tackling 21st century economic challenges. CCAT is actively involved in researching and field-testing how advances in lasers, nanotechnology, computational modeling and additive manufacturing can aid the competitive needs of U.S. industry. For more information on CCAT, please visit their website at www.ccat.us/

Optomec is the world-leading provider of additive manufacturing systems for high-performance applications in the Photovoltaic, Electronics, Biomedical, and Aerospace & Defense markets. These systems utilize Optomec's proprietary Aerosol Jet and LENS powder-metal fabrication technology. The company has a global customer base of industry-leading manufacturers.

LENS is a registered trademark of Sandia National Laboratories.
Aerosol Jet is a registered trademark of Optomec, Inc.

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