Effect of Thermal Management Approaches on Geometry and Productivity of Thin-Walled Structures of ER 5356 Built by Wire + Arc Additive Manufacturing

The present paper aimed at assessing the effect of two thermal management approaches on geometry and productivity of thin-walled structures built by Wire + Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). Thin-walls of ER 5356 (Al5Mg) with different lengths and the same number of layers were deposited via the gas metal arc (GMA) process with the aid of an active cooling technique (near-immersion active cooling—NIAC) under a fixed set of deposition parameters. Then, the same experiment was performed with natural cooling (NC) in air. To characterize the thermal management approaches, the interpass temperature (i.e., the temperature at which subsequent layers are deposited) were monitored by a trailing/leading infrared pyrometer during the deposition time. Finally, thin walls with a fixed length were deposited using the NC and NIAC approaches with equivalent interpass temperatures. As expected, the shorter the wall length the more intense the deposition concentration, heat accumulation, and, thus, geometric deviation. This behavior was more evident and premature for the NC strategy due to its lower heat sinking effectiveness. The main finding was that, regardless of the thermal management technique applied, if the same interpass temperature is selected and maintained, the geometry of the part being built tends to be stable and very similar. However, the total deposition time is somewhat shorter with the NIAC technique due its greater heat sinking advantage. Thus, the NIAC technique facilitates the non-stop manufacturing of small parts and details via WAAM.

Experimental Investigations on ThermoMechanical Tensioning (TMT), comparison with Heat Sink, and Its Application to a Grillage Structure

Thin plates, which are widely used in ship structures, undergo weld-induced buckling distortions because of their lower critical buckling strength. Thus, there is a need for an active in-process distortion control mechanism in the welding involving thin plates. In this regard, a ThermoMechanical Tensioning (TMT) method was developed and implemented successfully. In the current work, experimental investigation of the effect of TMT pull on the resulting welding distortions is studied and also the TMT process is compared with a heat sinking technique. The experimental results indicate that an increase in the TMT pull would reduce the extent of weld-induced buckling distortions. The results also suggest that a complicated heat sinking technique can be effectively replaced by a TMT process in reducing the welding out-of-plane distortions. The concept of TMT is further extended to the fabrication of grillage structures used in ship structures, which includes longitudinal and transverse welds.

On the influence of thermal processes on the dynamics of a drill during deep hole machining

Deep drilling process has been studied and dynamic features of interaction the cutting part of the gun drill with the detail have been identified. Thermal processes of cutting and heat sinking in the interacting chains were analyzed: “heat source – workpiece”; “heat source - chips”; heat source – tool”; “heat source – cooling liquid”. It has been noted that the vibrations lead to the loss of dimensional accuracy of the part fabrication as well as hole surface quality. Mathematical dependence of the longitudinal and torsional oscillations of the cutting drill bit is determined and the influence of heat flow pulsations on the friction coefficients and cutting force is revealed.