Investigation of deposition strategy on wire and arc additive manufacturing of aluminium components

Abstract

Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is known for its higher deposition rate and its ability to manufacture medium-large scale components compared to other related techniques. However, the manufacturing of small to large scale structures would require a choice of deposition strategies to implement. Parallel and oscillation deposition is implored for structures with large widths that cannot be attained by a single pass. These strategies are expected to improve the structural geometry, mechanical properties and the product's production time. In this study, Al2319 WAAM block structure was fabricated using an oscillation deposition strategy with Advanced cold metal transfer process. The influence of this strategy on porosity, microstructure, microhardness and mechanical properties of the structure were investigated. Based on the results, the structure deposited by oscillation strategy has more of its micro porosity within 0.5-50um, and its average percentage area porosity was comparable to thin wall fabricated with CMT-Pulse Advanced. Furthermore, the tensile properties of the vertical specimen were superior to the horizontal specimen, and the ultimate tensile strength (223 MPa) and yield strength (127 MPa) attained satisfies that of O-tempered wrought Al2219 alloys.