| Abstract Scope |
Plasma Arc Manufacturing (PAM) is an advanced manufacturing technology that uses a plasma arc as a heat source to melt and deposit material, typically in the form of metal wire (but not limited to), to build up parts layer by layer. This process is particularly useful for manufacturing large, complex metal parts and components in industries like aerospace, automotive, and defense. This has broader applications with refractory alloys and can serve the nuclear energy community as well. PAM can produce virtually porosity free parts due to its volumetric heat source. The overall high material quality is achieved by precisely controlling the material composition and thermal history of each part at every location. PAM technology can cut lead times by 50%-90% depending on the requirements compared to casting that same part. In addition, multiple wires can be fed for faster printing of a single alloy, the production of multi-metal graded structures, or even the creation of high entropy alloys. Moreover, there is effectively no upper size limitation to PAM. A larger enclosure can print a bigger part and multiple heads could print it faster. Coronal Technologies is currently offering part manufacturing services for items up to 1 cubic meter in size. PAM is an order of magnitude faster than LBPF while the wire input material is typically 1/5 the unit weight price of LBPF powder. These 2 major factors definitively demonstrate how PAM can increase capacity, speed, and throughput for the DoD and DoE for various applications. |