Ultrasonic consolidation

Ultrasonic Consolidation (UC) or Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) is a low temperature additive manufacturing or 3D printing technique for metals.

The process works by scrubbing metal foils together with ultrasonic vibrations under pressure in a continuous fashion, i.e., sheet lamination classification in additive manufacturing. Melting is not the formation mechanism. Instead, metals are joined in the solid-state via disruption of surface oxide films between the metals, i.e. ultrasonic metal welding mechanisms. CNC contour milling is used interchangeably with the additive stage of the process to introduce internal features and add detail to the metal part. UAM has the ability to join multiple metal types together, i.e., dissimilar metal joining, with no or minimal intermetallic formation and allows the embedment of temperature sensitive materials at relatively low temperature—typically less than 50% of the metal matrix melting temperature.