Effect of depositional strategy on surface roughness of Al-5%Mg wall fabricated via Cold Metal Transfer based Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) based Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is the future-driven novel technology for fabricating complex metal components, having advantages like high deposition rates, increased material efficiency, lesser lead time, low heat input, and low cost. Despite of above advantages, the CMT-WAAM process possesses few limitations in terms of producing metal components with high geometrical accuracy. Al-Mg alloys are particularly appealing for their lightweight and exceptional mechanical properties, making them attractive for various industrial applications such as marine, automobile, aerospace, etc. In this study, an Al-5%Mg alloy single wall has been built through CMT-WAAM using Current at 110A, Travel Speed (TS) of 7 mm/sec, and Gas Flow Rate (GFR) of 15L /min. The effect of unidirectional and bidirectional deposition direction on the surface quality of the fabricated sample has been investigated. Surface roughness (Ra) tests were conducted at three different zones (upper, middle, and bottom) of the specimen wall before the machining operation using a taylor hobson surtronic tester. It is concluded from the results that the S2 wall (unidirectional) has more Ra value than the S1 wall (bidirectional) in all zones due to the presence of a humping defect which results in more waviness over the S2 wall’s surface. In the bidirectional strategy, the roughness value reduces by 8.567 % (upper zone), 9.95 % (middle zone), and 13.019 % (bottom zone) than the unidirectional strategy. Thereby establishing that the deposition direction tends to build WAAM wall with a better surface finish.