The Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) system from Optomec (Albuquerque, New Mexico) -originally developed at Sandia National Laboratories - builds parts using a metal powder feed into a laser,

essentially laser cladding. The LENS process injects metal powder into a pool of molten metal created by a focused Nd:YAG laser beam. The fabrication process occurs in a low-pressure argon chamber for oxygen-free operation. A motion system moves a platform horizontally and laterally as the laser beam traces the cross-section of the part being produced. After forming a layer of the part, the machine's powder delivery nozzle moves upward prior to building the next layer.

   Like other RP techniques, LENS is an additive fabrication method - although it produces fully dense metal parts. To date, parts have been fabricated in 316 and 304 stainless steel, in nickel-based super-alloys such as Inconel 625, 690 and 718, H13 tool steel, tungsten, Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy and nickel aluminides.
The primary advantage is 100 percent dense parts. The disadvantages are poor surface finish and small feature definition.        

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