Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of ATI 718PLUS®: A Process Modeling Approach

Abstract

AbstractThe wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process is an emerging metal printing technique. The WAAM uses a typical arc welding power source for melting and deposition of metal wires as per the computer aided design model. The existing investigations highlight several critical issues in WAAM, which include deterioration of mechanical properties and excess distortion. These two problems can be addressed by a thorough understanding of the heat flow during the WAAM process. An attempt is made here for the development of a finite element-based 3D heat conduction process model for WAAM to analyze the heat transfer in the 3D domain. The effect of interlayer cooling time and substrate preheating temperature during the metal printing of ATI 718Plus®, a derivative of Inconel 718, is studied as part of the current investigations. The computed thermal history from the model is in good agreement with the independently published experimental results. The thoroughly validated process model is extended further for the in-depth analysis of WAAM at different process conditions.KeywordsAdditive manufacturingWire arc additive manufacturingATI 718Plus®Numerical modelThermal cyclesMetal printing