Author Alex Huckstepp, Vice President of Business Development at Digital Alloys, spoke at AeroDef 2019 in a conference session.
Directed Energy Deposition (DED) is a category of metal additive manufacturing (AM) that utilizes robotic welding processes to print at high deposition rates but with relatively low resolution. DED systems use an electric arc, plasma, laser or electron beam to melt metal feedstock (wire or powder) into a molten deposit pool. The DED process is typically used for prototyping, low volume production of large, simple parts, and feature addition and repair.
This post provides an overview of DED, digs deeper into its advantages and disadvantages, and highlights applications for which it is best suited. Providers of DED printers are highlighted in the chart below.