Applications of a Hybrid Manufacturing Process for Fabrication and Repair of Metallic Structures

Since its appearance, rapid prototyping technology has been of interest to various industries that are looking for a process to produce/build a part directly from a CAD model in a short time. Among them, the direct metal deposition process is the only process which directly manufactures a fully dense metal part without intermediate steps. However, challenges of the direct metal deposition process include building overhang structures, producing precision surfaces, and making parts with complex structures. Coupled between the additive and the subtractive processes into a single workstation, the integrated process, or hybrid process, can produce a metal part with machining accuracy and surface finish. Therefore, the hybrid process is potentially a very competitive process to fabricate and repair metallic structures. This paper summarizes the current development of the hybrid process to process high temperature metallic materials, including tool steel and Ti64. Research in simulation and modeling, process development, and actual part building and repair are discussed.