East Hartford, CT -- The Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) has purchased an Optomec Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) system for metal additive manufacturing applications in its Laser Applications lab, to be primarily used in developing repair and hybrid manufacturing systems.
CCAT combines expertise in cutting-edge manufacturing technology with specialized centers of excellence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, as well as workforce strategy and alternative energy solutions, promoting partnerships between industry, academia, and government to create a collaborative framework. CCAT is actively involved in researching and field-testing how advances in lasers, nanotechnology, computational modeling, and additive manufacturing can aid the competitive needs of US industry.
"LENS has already proven itself as a powerful tool for use in repair and refurbishment applications," stated Dr. Tom Maloney, director of technology, research and applications initiative and principal investigator of the National Aerospace Leadership Initiative (NALI). "We intend to build upon this success to create solutions that will provide the means to both accelerate and validate these processes, and will, together with our Machining Applications Lab, develop hybrid machining techniques that explore how currently insular processes may be combined to provide cost, quality and time benefits."
CCAT "is breaking new ground in the development of additive manufacturing and repair techniques," added Dave Ramahi, Optomec president/CEO. "The LENS 850-R system combined with CCAT's renowned expertise will help advance US manufacturing competitiveness."
Image via Optomec