Mazak MegaStir exclusive tooling supplier for MELD

Mazak MegaStir is now the exclusive supplier of tooling for MELD Manufacturing’s solid deposition technology. Experienced in friction stir welding (FSW) technology, Mazak MegaStir will provide its hard metal expertise along with tooling specifically developed for the MELD process that incorporates the use of friction as part of its solid deposition process.

The tooling is made from ultrahard materials such as PCBN and carbide, and withstands the extremely high loads and forces necessary for the process, according to Dale Fleck, GM of Mazak MegaStir.

Like Mazak MegaStir’s FSW process, solid deposition is also a solid way of joining, but as part of an additive process for the joining of stacked material layers to produce/build structures. As these layers are deposited, the Mazak MegaStir tooling, operating with applied pressure and frictional load, spins and joins the layers together. The tooling mounts into deposition heads on CNC machine platforms with the ability to feed the metal material down through the center of the head and the tooling.

Based in Christianburg, Virginia, MELD Manufacturing’s process can print large, high-quality metal parts with low residual stresses and full density using less energy than conventional fusion-based processes.

Because the MELD process occurs in the solid state, it also produces materials that aren’t susceptible to porosity, hot-cracking, or other problems of melt-based technologies. MELD, a single-step process, doesn’t require follow-up processes such as hot isostatic pressing (HIP) or sintering to improve the deposited material’s quality. https://www.mazakusa.com; https://www.meldmanufacturing.com

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