ORLANDO, FL, June 4, 2014 — For the first time, the Laser Institute of America will hold its highly popular Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM®) Workshop in its home base of Orlando on Mar. 4-5, 2015. Award-winning AM expert and frequent LIA speaker Ingomar Kelbassa will serve his first stint as general chair of the seventh annual event.
Central Florida — home to CREOL-The College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida, as well as a high-tech corridor comprising 23 counties and numerous colleges and tech companies — is an ideal venue for LAM 2015, says LIA Executive Director Peter Baker.
LAM “emphasizes LIA’s commitment to providing end users and manufacturers with the practical knowledge and information they need to use lasers productively and profitably,” Baker explains.
The workshop will draw dozens of experts from around the world to discuss not only traditional laser-based techniques like cladding but the revolutionary applications of AM in medicine and dentistry, the aviation and automotive industries, and even consumer products.
Kelbassa, an adjunct professor at Australia’s RMIT University and a frequent speaker at LIA events, was also part of the team at Germany’s Fraunhofer ILT that won an Aviation Week innovation award in 2012 for the institute’s additively manufactured 80-blade BLISK, or blade-integrated disk.
Serving as co-chairs will be past LAM general chairs Paul Denney of Lincoln Electric and Jim Sears of the GE Global Research Center.
LAM brings together representatives from industries including power generation, aerospace, agriculture and automotive. Attendees hear case studies from large and small firms that describe successes in depositing wire or powder with lasers to prevent and repair corrosion on vital components. In addition, powder-bed and powder-fed additive processes allow the production of innovatively designed lightweight parts by exploiting the root power of AM — what Kelbassa calls “complexity for free (and) individualization for free.”
Past presenters at LAM have included representatives from GE, Pratt & Whitney, Caterpillar and Penn State, as well as additive manufacturing guru Terry Wohlers. For updates on LAM 2015 or to register, visit www.lia.org/lam.
About LIA
The Laser Institute of America (LIA) is the professional society for laser applications and safety serving the industrial, educational, medical, research and government communities throughout the world since 1968. www.lia.org, 13501 Ingenuity Drive, Ste 128, Orlando, FL 32826, +1.407.380.1553.
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