Invited review article: Strategies and processes for high quality wire arc additive manufacturing

By C. Cunningham, J. Flynn, Alborz Shokrani, Vimal Dhokia, Stephen T. Newman. Additive Manufacturing, 2018

762 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is attracting significant attention in industry and academia due to its ability to capture the benefits of additive manufacturing for production of large components of medium geometric complexity. Uniquely, WAAM combines the use of wire and electric arc as a fusion source to build components in a layer-by-layer approach, both of which can offer significant cost savings compared to powder and alternative fusion sources, such as laser and electron beam, respectively. Meanwhile, a high deposition rate, key for producing such components, is provided, whilst also allowing significant material savings compared to conventional manufacturing processes. However, high quality production in a wide range of materials is limited by the elevated levels of heat input which causes a number of materials processing challenges in WAAM. The materials processing challenges are fully identified in this paper to include the development of high residual stresses, undesirable microstructures, and solute segregation and phase transformations at solidification. The thermal profile during the build poses another challenge leading to heterogeneous and anisotropic material properties. This paper outlines how the materials processing challenges may be addressed in WAAM by implementation of quality improving ancillary processes. The primary WAAM process selections and ancillary processes are classified by the authors and a comprehensive review of their application conducted. Strategies by which the ancillary processes can enhance the quality of WAAM parts are presented. The efficacy and suitability of these strategies for versatile and cost effective WAAM production are discussed and a future vision of WAAM process developments provided.

Subfields: Automotive Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a1fc1a610b4e39748a0425fa865b007bb9a3c56e

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Citations in the corpus

Advances in Metal Additive Manufacturing: A Review of Common Processes, Industrial Applications, and Current Challenges (2021, background): “This AM group applies robotic welding processes for printing at higher deposition rates, but with lower resolution [34].”
Revisiting fundamental welding concepts to improve additive manufacturing: From theory to practice (2020, methodology): “Such is especially relevant for repair operations, where additive manufacturing technologies are starting to become more relevant [258,259].”
Wire + Arc Additively Manufactured Inconel 718: Effect of post-deposition heat treatments on microstructure and tensile properties (2019, background): “At present, this is difficult to monitor and control due to the complex thermal cycling that the part undergoes during the WAAM process [11].”
The Current State of Research of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM): A Review (2021, methodology): “University of Bath Wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) [9,42]”
Zero defect manufacturing: state-of-the-art review, shortcomings and future directions in research (2019, background): “Cunningham et al. (2018) analyses the Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) and how the quality can be improved by improving the quality of the ancillary processes.”
Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing: Review on Recent Findings and Challenges in Industrial Applications and Materials Characterization (2021, methodology): “Material testing and characterization, performed by appropriate investigation techniques [8,9], as indicated in Figure 4, facilitate the selection of optimal parameters range to achieve higher efficiency of the process and good quality of components fabricated by WAAM.”
Criticality of porosity defects on the fatigue performance of wire + arc additive manufactured titanium alloy (2019, background): “Consequently, WAAM has found applications in the aerospace and other industrial sectors [1,2].”
In-situ strengthening of a high strength low alloy steel during Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) (2020, background): “Directed energy deposition techniques, in which focused thermal energy is used to melt the feedstock material, have enabled the production of large metallic components with medium complexity [1].”