Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) is a revolutionary process technology that uses sound to merge layers of metal drawn from featureless foil stock. The process produces true metallurgical bonds with full density and works with a variety of metals. The patented technology has several unique capabilities:
Click on the infographic to understand how Solid-State works!
Download infographic
The ultrasonic welding technology can be accomplished at very low temperature in a normal shop environment. In aluminums the peak temperatures are below 250 °F and for all metals the bonding temperature is significantly below melting temperature. The solid-state nature is a key advantage of Fabrisonic’s patented process as it:
Fabrisonic’s production machines start out life as a commercial 3 Axis CNC mill. To the base mill, Fabrisonic adds it patented welding head for additive manufacturing. The print head is treated as another tool in the CNC tool change (see video below). The additive head is used to add material to produce a part that is near net shape. The mill can then be used to CNC machine final true shape. The hybrid system allows for a silky smooth final surface finish as well as tolerances of +/-.0005”. Tolerances are further improved in that the part has always been in one machine. There is no error generally associated with parts that have to be located in two or three machines during production.
The hybrid system is also perfect for repair applications. Worn parts can be installed in the SonicLayer machine which can both machine away damaged areas and build them back up with the additive sonic head.
Many 3D printers measure material deposition in fractions of a cubic inch per hour. At these rates, parts are restricted to a small envelope that can be printed in a reasonable amount of time. Fabrisonic’s line of SonicLayer machines print from fifteen to thirty cubic inches per hour. This allows for much larger build volumes. The SonicLayer 4000 has a bed of 24” x 36” while the SonicLayer 7200 can accommodate parts 6 ft x 6 ft x 3 ft.