Study on the Process Window in Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of a High Relative Density Aluminum Alloy

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a heightened focus on multiplex porosity due to its significant adverse impact on the mechanical properties of aluminum alloy components produced through wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM). This study investigates the impacts of the process parameters and dimension parameters on the relative densities of WAAM 2219 aluminum alloy components by conducting experiments and investigates the changes in high relative density process windows with different dimension parameters. The findings reveal a hierarchy in the influence of various parameters on the relative density of the 2219 aluminum alloy: travel speed (TS), wire feed speed (WFS), the number of printed layers (L), interlayer cooling time (ICT), and theoretical length of weld (TLW). A series of data for analysis was produced through a designed experiment procedure, and on the basis of this, by integrating the data augmentation method with the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithm, the relationship among the process parameters, dimension parameters, and relative density was modeled. Furthermore, through leveraging the established model, we analyzed the changes in the optimized process window corresponding to a high relative density with the L. The optimal windows of WFS and TS change when the L reaches a certain value. In contrast, the optimal window of ICT remains consistent despite an increase in the L. Finally, the relative density and mechanical properties of the formed 20-layer specimens within the model-derived window were verified. The relative density of the specimens within the window reached 98.77%, the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) reached 279.96 MPa, and the yield strength (YS) reached 132.77 MPa. This work offers valuable insights for exploring the process window and selecting process parameters through a more economical and faster approach in WAAM aluminum components.