meltbased

Meltbased is an adjective used to describe processes, materials, or technologies that rely on melting a substance to a liquid state as an intermediate step in forming, shaping, or manipulating it. This approach contrasts with solid-state forming methods such as pressing, sintering, or cold forming, and is common across traditional manufacturing and modern fabrication.

Common melt-based methods include traditional casting (including investment and sand casting), glass manufacturing, and various melt-based additive manufacturing techniques that build objects by depositing or fusing molten material. In additive manufacturing, examples range from fused deposition modeling, which extrudes melted thermoplastic filaments, to direct metal laser melting and selective laser melting, which use lasers to melt metal powders, and electron beam melting, which uses an electron beam in a vacuum.

Materials utilized in meltbased processes span metals, polymers, glasses, and composites that contain a meltable phase. Melt behavior, including viscosity in the molten state and the rate of solidification, strongly influences microstructure, mechanical properties, and surface finish. Thermal management and cooling rates are critical design considerations to control defects and residual stresses.

Applications are widespread, including rapid prototyping, complex geometries, and net-shape or near-net-shape parts in aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics, tooling, and medical devices. Meltbased manufacturing enables design freedom and customization but can introduce porosity, anisotropy, thermal stresses, and post-processing requirements such as heat treatment, machining, or surface finishing.

See also: casting, glass manufacturing, additive manufacturing, powder bed fusion, fused deposition modeling.