Extreme High-Speed Laser Material Deposition—EHLA

Extreme high-speed laser material deposition, known by its German acronym EHLA, is a new variant of laser material deposition (LMD) with powdered additives. This variant’s process control is unlike that of LMD, where the powder melts as it contacts the melt pool. In the EHLA process, the laser beam melts the powder above the surface of the substrate to deliver a liquid to the melt pool. Saving time otherwise required to melt the particles in the melt pool, this can increase the achievable feed rate from a few meters per minute to up to several hundred meters per minute. The EHLA process enables metal layers measured in tenths of a millimeter to be applied to large areas in a very quick, efficient way that conserves resources.