Lincoln Electric, Industry Partners Earn Funding for AM R&D Efforts

Lincoln Electric is part of a team that has received funding through America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, in conjunction with the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), for pursuing its patented laser hot-wire technology for additive manufacturing (AM).

The $1 million in funding the team receives is part of $11 million offered to participating teams through the America Makes program. This funding award supports the team’s $2 million project entry, Multi: Source/FeedStock/Meter-Scale Metal AM Machine.

The project team also includes: Caterpillar Inc., EWI, GKN Aerospace, IPG Photonics Corp., ITAMCO, Oak Ridge National Lab, United Technologies Corp. and University of Tennessee, Knoxville. A Lincoln Electric company, Wolf robotics is also a key team member. Together, the team will use the funding to build upon an existing, alpha-generation CAD-to-path robotic software tool, testing and refining it for a commercial release. The team also will conduct basic process testing to bundle the software with a multi-process, multi-material, robot-based 3D-printing system.

The team is targeting early adopters investing in new AM systems to produce titanium and steel parts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory via the America Makes program.