Metallurgical assessments on 316L stainless steel thin walled plate fabricated through GMAW based typical Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is developing trendy process for the fabrication of metal components nowadays. In the present study, the concept of WAAM is employed but typical concept is used for fabricating a thin walled plate sample using AISI 316L grade of stainless steel. The plate size is limited for ease up to laying only three weld beads in traverse direction rather than vertically as in the case of additive manufacturing. The chemical composition of fabricated sample is analysed for checking the use of WAAM for metal component fabrication. The ferrite number is also found and reported for supporting the fabricated component to withstand the corrosion. The low carbon steel was used as a parent metal to deposit the fabricating stainless steel thin plate. Microstructure of interface between base metal and fabricating metal is also revealed for confirming defect free component fabrication. These results are found to be satisfactory enough and thus the WAAM shall be used for the fabrication of desired components also especially in stainless steels.