Manufacturers of automotive and aerospace parts, medical devices, robots and machine components depend on advances in metals processing to address a range of challenges, often simultaneously. This includes the need for lighter-weight and higher-strength components, performance at temperature extremes, rapid prototyping and manufacturing, superior surface quality and durability and, of course, controlling production costs.

This article reviews industrial-gas technologies that the metals industry can use to respond, improve and even help transform advanced metal-parts manufacturing and processing.