A path planning and sharp corner correction strategy for wire and arc additive manufacturing of solid components with polygonal cross-sections

Abstract

Pores can easily form in the geometric center and sharp corner lap joints of solid components with polygonal cross-sections fabricated by wire and arc additive manufacturing. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a composite path planning method and a sharp corner correction strategy. The composite path planning method consists of the zigzag path and the contour offsetting path. The zigzag path is used to fill the interior of the component and eliminates pores formed by traditional filling paths. The contour offset path is used to improve the geometric precision of the component. Filling paths are connected to create a closed path, which reduces arc striking and arc extinguishing during the manufacturing process. By exploring the distance between two vertices of a sharp corner lap of the outer contour path, it was found that pores form in the sharp corner lap when the angle of the sharp corner is less than 58.65°; therefore, the sharp corner correction strategy is proposed to correct the sharp corner lap path in the outer contour path. Experimental results show that the composite path filling method and the sharp corner correction strategy can eliminate pores between the geometric center and the sharp corner lap joints of components, thereby improving surface morphology and forming quality of components with complex polygonal cross-sections.