A Review on Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) Fabricated Components of Ti6AL4V and Steels

Abstract

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is vibrantly emerging Additive manufacturing (AM) process in which large scale industrial metal components and intricate geometrical structures are manufactured, by layer by layer deposition. Factors like significant reduction in the material wastage, very high rate of metal deposition, capable of fabricating large complex geometries at very low cost of production are the reasons for the tremendous growth of the WAAM process technology in the manufacturing sector. Near net shape manufacturing capability of WAAM has extremely reduced the buy-to-fly ratios of the aviation components when compared to traditional manufacturing thus flagging WAAM as the best alternative to subtractive manufacturing for high cost material components. In spite of huge advantages of WAAM, the major process concerns/issues like Heat accumulation, residual stresses, intricate thermal history and rapid solidification which significantly influence the microstructure evolution of the fabricated component pose challenges to the WAAM process. This study reviews the current research on WAAM process covering the frequently used feed stock materials and covers the widespread overview of the metallurgical and the mechanical properties of WAAM fabricated components, optimal parameters, simulated methods of reducing the heat accumulation, grain refinement processes and the heat treatments for fabricated components for the required microstructures.