scholarly journals Review of Aluminum Alloy Development for Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (18) ◽  
pp. 5370
Author(s):  
Geir Langelandsvik ◽  
Odd M. Akselsen ◽  
Trond Furu ◽  
Hans J. Roven

Processing of aluminum alloys by wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) gained significant attention from industry and academia in the last decade. With the possibility to create large and relatively complex parts at low investment and operational expenses, WAAM is well-suited for implementation in a range of industries. The process nature involves fusion melting of a feedstock wire by an electric arc where metal droplets are strategically deposited in a layer-by-layer fashion to create the final shape. The inherent fusion and solidification characteristics in WAAM are governing several aspects of the final material, herein process-related defects such as porosity and cracking, microstructure, properties, and performance. Coupled to all mentioned aspects is the alloy composition, which at present is highly restricted for WAAM of aluminum but received considerable attention in later years. This review article describes common quality issues related to WAAM of aluminum, i.e., porosity, residual stresses, and cracking. Measures to combat these challenges are further outlined, with special attention to the alloy composition. The state-of-the-art of aluminum alloy selection and measures to further enhance the performance of aluminum WAAM materials are presented. Strategies for further development of new alloys are discussed, with attention on the importance of reducing crack susceptibility and grain refinement.

Author(s):  
Yashwant Koli ◽  
N Yuvaraj ◽  
Aravindan Sivanandam ◽  
Vipin

Nowadays, rapid prototyping is an emerging trend that is followed by industries and auto sector on a large scale which produces intricate geometrical shapes for industrial applications. The wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) technique produces large scale industrial products which having intricate geometrical shapes, which is fabricated by layer by layer metal deposition. In this paper, the CMT technique is used to fabricate single-walled WAAM samples. CMT has a high deposition rate, lower thermal heat input and high cladding efficiency characteristics. Humping is a common defect encountered in the WAAM method which not only deteriorates the bead geometry/weld aesthetics but also limits the positional capability in the process. Humping defect also plays a vital role in the reduction of hardness and tensile strength of the fabricated WAAM sample. The humping defect can be controlled by using low heat input parameters which ultimately improves the mechanical properties of WAAM samples. Two types of path planning directions namely uni-directional and bi-directional are adopted in this paper. Results show that the optimum WAAM sample can be achieved by adopting a bi-directional strategy and operating with lower heat input process parameters. This avoids both material wastage and humping defect of the fabricated samples.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashish Kulkarni ◽  
Prahar M. Bhatt ◽  
Alec Kanyuck ◽  
Satyandra K. Gupta

Abstract Robotic Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is the layer-by-layer deposition of molten metal to build a three-dimensional part. In this process, the fed metal wire is melted using an electric arc as a heat source. The process is sensitive to the arc conditions, such as arc length. While building WAAM parts, the metal beads overlap at corners causing material accumulation. Material accumulation is undesirable as it leads to uneven build height and process failures caused by arc length variation. This paper introduces a deposition speed regulation scheme to avoid the corner accumulation problem and build parts with uniform build height. The regulated speed has a complex relationship with the corner angle, bead geometry, and molten metal dynamics. So we need to train a model that can predict suitable speed regulations for corner angles encountered while building the part. We develop an unsupervised learning technique to characterize the uniformity of the bead profile of a WAAM built layer and check for anomalous bead profiles. We train a model using these results that can predict suitable speed regulation parameters for different corner angles. We test this model by building a WAAM part using our speed regulation scheme and validate if the built part has uniform build height and reduced corner defects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 321 ◽  
pp. 02004
Author(s):  
M. Ikedaa ◽  
M. Ueda ◽  
M. Ninomi

Titanium and its alloys have a high specific strength, excellent corrosion resistance, and good biocompatibility. Therefore, these alloys are adopted as raw materials for artificial bones and joints. Furthermore, these alloys are used as materials for dental surgery. In the development of alloy design, beta-type titanium alloys that possess a lower Young’s modulus than other types of titanium alloys, e.g., Ti-6Al-4V alpha-beta-type alloys, are being actively investigated worldwide. Based on these studies, titanium-niobium-tantalum and zirconium system alloys were developed. For example, Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr alloy has a low Young’s modulus, excellent biocompatibility, and improved mechanical properties. Many researchers are actively investigating surface modifications and surface treatments. Additive manufacturing, namely 3D printing, wherein metal powders are piled up layer by layer to produce goods without a mold, has attracted attention in many fields, including manufacture of implants, especially porous structural implants with a low Young’s modulus. It is very important that titanium and its alloys be applied to health-care goods, e.g., wheelchairs and prostheses. Therefore, we herein consider four topics: alloy development, coating and surface modification, additive manufacturing, and health care applications.


Author(s):  
Vivek Kumar P ◽  
◽  
Soundrapandian E ◽  
Jenin Joseph A ◽  
Kanagarajan E ◽  
...  

Additive manufacturing process is a method of layer by layer joining of materials to create components from three-dimensional (3D) model data. After their introduction in the automotive sector a decade ago, it has seen a significant rise in research and growth. The Additive manufacturing is classified into different types based upon the energy source use in the fabrication process. In our project, we used self-build CNC machine that runs MACH3 software, as well as the MACH3 controller is used to control the welding torch motion for material addition through three axis movement (X, Y and Z). In the project we used ER70 S-6 weld wire for the fabrication and examined its microstructure and mechanical properties. Different layers of the specimen had different microstructures, according to microstructural studies of the product. Rockwell hardness tester used for testing hardness of the product. According to the observation of the part fabricated components using the Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing process outperformed the mechanical properties of mild steel casting process. The product fabricated by Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing process properties is superior to conventional casting process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 199 ◽  
pp. 109370
Author(s):  
Rui Fu ◽  
Shuiyuan Tang ◽  
Jiping Lu ◽  
Yinan Cui ◽  
Zixiang Li ◽  
...  

Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Henckell ◽  
Yarop Ali ◽  
Andreas Metz ◽  
Jean Pierre Bergmann ◽  
Jan Reimann

As part of a feasibility study, an alternative production process for titanium aluminides was investigated. This process is based on in situ alloying by means of a multi-wire technique in the layer-wise additive manufacturing process. Thereby, gas metal arc welding (GMAW) was combined with additional hot-wire feeding. By using two separate wires made of titanium and aluminum, it is possible to implement the alloy formation of titanium aluminides directly in the weld bead of the welding process. In this study, wall structures were built layer-by-layer with alloy compositions between 10 at% and 55 at% aluminum by changing the feeding rates. During this investigation, the macroscopic characteristics, microstructural formation, and the change of the microhardness values were analyzed. A close examination of the influence of welding speed and post-process heat treatment on the Ti–47Al alloy was performed; this being particularly relevant due to its economically wide spread applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 269 ◽  
pp. 05002
Author(s):  
Priyantomo Agustinus Ananda

WAAM ( Wire + Arc Additive Manufacturing) is a process of adding material layer by layer in order to build a near net shape components. It shows a further promising future for fabricating large expensive metal components with complex geometry. Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) company as one of the industrial section which related with engineering design and products, wide range of material type, and shop based or site based manufacturing process have been dealing with conventional manufacturing and procurement process in order to fulfill its requirement for custom parts and items for the project completion purpose. During the conventional process, there is a risk during the transportation of the products from the manufacturing shop to then site project, this risk is even greater when the delivery time take part as one of the essential part which affect the project schedule. Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing process offering an alternative process to shorten the delivery time and process for a selected material and engineered items, with the consideration of essential variables which can affect the final products of WAAM process, such as : heat input, wire feed speed, travel speed, shielding gas, welding process and robotic system applied. In this paper, the possibilities of WAAM application in EPC company will be assessed, an in depth literature review of the various process which possible to applied, include the loss and benefit compared with conventional method will be presented. The main objective is to identify the current challenge and the prospect of WAAM application in EPC company.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dejan Kovšca ◽  
Bojan Starman ◽  
Aljaž Ščetinec ◽  
Damjan Klobčar ◽  
Nikolaj Mole

Wire-arc welding-based additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a 3D printing technology for production of near-net-shape parts with complex geometry. This printing technology enables to build up a required shape layer by layer with a deposition of a consumable welding wire, where the welding arc is a source of heat. Welding is usually performed by CNC-controlled robotic manipulator, which provides a controlled location of material layer adding. Because the process itself involves thermo-mechanically complex phenomena, Finite Element-based virtual models are commonly employed to optimize the process parameters. This paper presents advanced computational modelling of the WAAM of a tube. A thermo-mechanical numerical model of the process is calibrated against experimental data, measured as temperature variation at the acquisition point. The virtual modelling starts with a preparation of the tube geometry in CAD software, where the geometry of the single-layer cross-section is assumed. The geometry is then exported to a G-code format data file and used to control robotic manipulator motion. On the other side, the code serves as an input to in-house developed code for automatic FEs activation in the simulation of the material layer-adding process. The time of activation of the finite elements (FEs) is directly related to the material deposition rate. The activation of the FEs is followed by a heat source, modeled with a double ellipsoidal power density distribution. The thermo-mechanical problem was solved as uncoupled to speed-up computation.


Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Köhler ◽  
Sierk Fiebig ◽  
Jonas Hensel ◽  
Klaus Dilger

An increasing demand for flexibility and product integration, combined with reduced product development cycles, leads to continuous development of new manufacturing technologies such as additive manufacturing. Wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) provides promising technology for the near net-shape production of large structures with complex geometry, using cost efficient production resources such as arc welding technology and wire materials. Compared to powder-based additive manufacturing processes, WAAM offers high deposition rates as well as enhanced material utilization. Because of the layer-by-layer built up approach, process conditions such as energy input, arc characteristics, and material composition result in a different processability during the additive manufacturing process. This experimental study aims to describe the effects of the welding process on buildup accuracy and material properties during wire arc additive manufacturing of aluminum structures. Following a process development using pulse cold metal transfer (CMT-P), linear wall samples were manufactured with variations of the filler metal. The samples were analyzed in terms of surface finishing, hardness, and residual stress. Furthermore, mechanical properties were determined in different building directions.


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