Development of a Low-Cost Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing System

Due to their unique advantages over traditional manufacturing processes, metal additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have received a great deal of attention over the last few years. Using current powder-bed fusion AM technologies, metal components are very expensive to manufacture, and machines are complex to build and maintain. Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a new method of producing metallic components with high efficiency at an affordable cost, which combines welding and 3D printing. In this work, gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) is incorporated into a gantry system to create a new metal additive manufacturing platform. Design and build of a simple, affordable, and effective WAAM system is explained and the most frequently seen problems are discussed with their suggested solutions. Effect of process parameters on the quality of two additively manufactured alloys including plain carbon steel and Inconel 718 were studied. System design and troubleshooting for the wire arc AM system is presented and discussed.

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A novel high-efficiency methodology for metal additive manufacturing

Applied Physics A ◽

10.1007/s00339-016-0480-2 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 122 (11) ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jun Du ◽

Zhengying Wei ◽

Xin Wang ◽

Xuewei Fang ◽

Guangxi Zhao

Keyword(s):

Additive Manufacturing ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Metal Additive Manufacturing ◽

Metal Additive

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Effects of Thermal Undercooling and Thermal Cycles on the Grain and Microstructure Evolution of TC17 Titanium Alloy Repaired by Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

10.21203/rs.3.rs-665268/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yimin Zhuo ◽

Chunli Yang ◽

Chenglei Fan ◽

Sanbao Lin

Keyword(s):

Titanium Alloy ◽

Additive Manufacturing ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Low Cost ◽

Single Layer ◽

Element Model ◽

Maximum Effect ◽

Thermal Cycles ◽

Layer Deposition ◽

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

Abstract Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) can be used to repair blades or blisk made of titanium alloy with the advantage of high efficiency and low-cost. In this work, the finite element model of repairing the blade based on the arc heat source was established to investigate it. Results showed that the maximum effect of thermal undercooling appears when the peak current transforms to the base current (1Hz or 5Hz), which will promote the grains refinement with the combination of sufficient constitutional supercooling. Compared to the single-layer deposition, the microstructure in the near-heat affected zone (near-HAZ) of multi-layer deposition changes from the metastable β phases to the extremely fine α phases, which was caused by the repeated thermal cycles.

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The Effect of Laser Remelting on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of the Bonding Interface in a Hybrid Metal Additive Manufacturing Process

10.21203/rs.3.rs-600261/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Fei Xue ◽

Xin Cui ◽

Longfei Zheng ◽

Mian Li ◽

Xuewei Fang

Keyword(s):

Mechanical Properties ◽

Additive Manufacturing ◽

Substrate Surface ◽

Complex Structure ◽

Bonding Interface ◽

Machining Process ◽

Laser Remelting ◽

Metal Additive Manufacturing ◽

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing ◽

Metal Additive

Abstract In order to realize both high-efficient forming with the wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) and precise forming with the laser metal deposition (LMD) for some complex-structure and high-precision parts, a hybrid metal additive manufacturing method is proposed. The part is decomposed into sub volumes, then the sub volumes with relatively simple-structure features are formed through WAAM as a substrate, and the other sub volumes with more complex-structure or small-sized features are formed through LMD on the former substrate. However, the mechanical properties of the bonding interface would be reduced, if the later sub volumes are directly deposited by LMD on the rough WAAM substrate surface. In order to avoid unnecessary machining process between WAAM and LMD for high efficiency, and ensure the mechanical properties of WAAM-LMD bonding interface the laser remelting method is applied for improving the profile of WAAM substrate surface. The simulation model of heat transfer and fluid flow in the laser remelting process is established, the influence of the laser power and the scanning speed on the surface-profile improvement is researched by simulation and verified by experiments, Based on that the remelting process parameters are optimized. Furthermore, based on the WAAM formed substrate, the LMD formed volumes are deposited directly, after surface milling and after laser remelting, respectively. Then the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the bonding interface are compared among the three process methods, the feasibility of the laser remelting method for improving the bonding interface performance is verified.

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