Improvement in the performance of a cylindrical punching tool for hardness and wear resistance was tested after the use of direct metal deposition (DMD) to deposit an additional material on the tool surface. DM3D Technology has been working for several years improving the DMD technology, which is capable of melting gas-atomized metal powders with a power laser over a substrate layer by layer. The technology allows the possibility of using one or several materials to build a 3D part, repair an existing component or deposit over a surface to obtain desired properties. Some of the main characteristics of this technology that distinguish it from others is its capability of allowing fully dense metal structures, controllable microstructures, and heterogeneous material fabrication as well as near net shape geometry generation.
Figure 1 shows a general overview of a DMD system that contains a laser system, a powder feeding system, shielding and cover gases for oxidation and transportation of powders, and feedback sensors to control the deposition process. Particularly for the purpose of the experiments described in this paper, a DMD machine with a CO2 laser controlled by a three-axis CNC system from DM3D Technology was used.