Lincoln Electric and a group of partners have been awarded funding by America Makes to benchmark metal-layering technology using a Lincoln Electric-developed, laser-assisted, wire-based additive process versus conventional additive-manufacturing technologies. The project – High Throughput Functional Material Deposition Using a Laser Hot Wire Process – is the second round of funding for the Case Western Reserve University and Lincoln Electric team by America Makes, which is the recently rebranded name for the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute founded in August 2012.

America Makes is a public-private partnership based in Youngstown, Ohio, tasked with developing and accelerating additive manufacturing and 3-D printing to help increase the nation’s global manufacturing competitiveness. This particular project, which features Lincoln Electric as co-investigator along with the university, builds upon initial research by the team that yielded evidence that a wire-based, laser-assisted process is an effective metal cladding and layering method for repairs made to molds used in aluminum casting for the automotive industry.