Mechanical Finishing of Wire Arc Additive Manufactured Aluminum Parts

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes enable new design freedoms in engineering. Due to that, the use of AM offers the potential to shorten time to market and to reduce either manufacturing cost or material waste. Furthermore, parts can be individualized by using AM and product properties can be modified selectively. Hence the Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) process is utilized in order to minimize the energy consumption in a process chain of automotive components. WAAM is selected due to its high material deposition rates and its comparably low costs. The WAAM process is used to attach part features onto semifinished products in order to adapt the parts to the expected loads. To meet the requirements regarding geometry and surface quality, the welded part features must be finished mechanically afterwards by milling. The influence of mechanical finishing on the surface integrity of WAAM parts are not yet investigated sufficient. Further research regarding the mechanical finishing of additive manufactured structures and its influence on the resulting material properties is required. The influence of milling and deep rolling on the surface integrity of AlSi12 parts produced by WAAM is investigated and the results are presented. This study especially focuses on the effect of deep rolling on the surface integrity, hardness, microstructure and mechanical properties of the parts. As a result of this paper, the improvement of the surface integrity of WAAM parts subjected to deep rolling is verified.