End lateral extension path strategy for intersection in wire and arc additive manufactured 2319 aluminum alloy

Abstract

Purpose Large-scale aircraft parts usually with many frame features, which consist of intersections. Profile and tensile properties of junctions in wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) are significantly affected by path strategies. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel path strategy for intersections in WAAM and compare it with commonly used ones. Design/methodology/approach Three typical intersections including T crossing (TC), square crossing (SC) and arbitrary-angle crossing (AAC) were built up with two commonly used path strategies (parallel and oscillation) and a proposed method named end lateral extension (ELE) which extends the weld track along the crossed direction. A robotic system and cold metal transfer (CMT) process were used to deposit Al-6.3Cu (2319) alloy. The profile of the bead was scanned by laser vision sensor. Tightened ratio (r), inter-layer height increment (Δh) and deviation to the fitting plane (df) are calculated based on the point cloud. Tensile tests were done for all built intersections. Findings Comparison to the commonly used path strategies, the proposed ELE method eliminated the tightened defects at the intersection, achieved a more stable inter-layer height increment (Δh) and improved the profile quality with a lower deviation to the fitting plane (df). Tensile tests show that the proposed strategy has exhibited favorable tensile properties. Originality/value In this paper, a novel path strategy named ELE is proposed, which provides a new path choice for fabricating intersections by WAAM.