Gallery in development —
LPBF.
Our powder-bed portfolio in the BENELUX is young. We are building this gallery with validated LPBF applications as soon as they are available in a structured, shareable format — including dimensions, material and print parameters. For now, below you will find the application categories where LPBF fundamentally beats wire-laser, plus a direct route to discuss your own part.
This gallery is in development. Unlike the wire page, where we draw on a mature Meltio ecosystem, our BENELUX portfolio for LPBF powder bed is young. We would rather show nothing than generic examples that would be misleading for your business case. The categories below indicate where LPBF makes sense — for a concrete assessment, we recommend a conversation about your specific part.
LPBF wins where wire-laser physically cannot
Instead of showing fictional applications, we explain where LPBF powder-bed machines are fundamentally the only option. These are three categories our BENELUX pipeline focuses on and where we welcome our first customers.
Internal channels & geometry
Heat exchangers, conformal cooling channels, vacuum routing in semiconductor fixtures. Wire-laser physically cannot build this geometry — LPBF selectively melts powder, and the rest stays in the volume as support.
Topology-optimization & lattices
Parts where weight is critical and lattice sections or topology-optimized organic shapes are needed. Defence UAV components, biomedical implants, lightweight aerospace brackets.
Fine features & surface quality
Parts < 200 mm with sub-millimetre features, Ra < 10 µm as-built, dimensional tolerance ±0.05 mm. Semiconductor fixtures, end effectors, alignment jigs for lithography.
Four rules of thumb for LPBF.
For LPBF the criteria are fundamentally different from wire-laser. LPBF excels precisely where wire-laser falls short — below 200 mm, with fine details, or with geometries that physically cannot be deposited with a deposition head.
- Small to medium Sweet spot 30–200 mm. Our LPBF printers cover build volumes from 160 to 300 mm. Above 200 mm, wire-laser usually wins on cost and lead time.
- Complex internal geometry Internal channels < 3 mm diameter, cooling paths in moulds, lattice structures, topology-optimized parts. Unmelted powder supports overhangs during printing.
- High precision and fine features Sub-millimetre features, dimensional tolerance ±0.05 mm, Ra 6–15 µm as-built. Applications in semiconductors, biomedical and aerospace where post-processing is barely allowed.
- Low to medium series Single material per build, small series (1–50 pieces per cycle), the alloy must be validated for the machine in advance. For multi-material or repair, wire-laser wins.
Do you have a part right now that needs LPBF?
Our BENELUX portfolio for LPBF powder bed is growing with customer projects. Do you have a part with fine features, internal channels or lattice geometry? Send it in. For suitable projects we offer priority in our planning and — under NDA — a mention in this gallery once delivered.