Development of parameters of GMAW-P for the wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) of aluminum alloys

Abstract

Wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process is a group of additive manufacturing (AM) techniques that use an electric arc as a heat source and a metal wire as a feedstock for the fabrication of 3D metallic components in a layer-based manufacturing process. The production of aluminum alloys components through the WAAM process is more challenging than other alloys due to the higher gas pore number and coarse dendritic structure during the WAAM process. In this study, a system consisting of a synergic pulsed GMAW source and a robotic arm was employed to conduct the GMAW-based WAAM process. The studied alloy is an Al-Si alloy originating from the ER4143 filler metal deposition for the manufacture of layered walls as component samples made by WAAM. The welding parameters were studied by using Design of Experiments (DOE), and then to build the specimens, the DOE results were used to adjust the welding parameters. The samples were investigated by metallography, microhardness, and tensile strength tests. Finally, the influence of welding parameters and the heat input on the metallurgical and mechanical properties of the aluminum walls were discussed.

Date	14 Sept 2020
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Tan Pham (Supervisor)