Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing: Review on Recent Findings and Challenges in Industrial Applications and Materials Characterization

Abstract

Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a fusion manufacturing process in which the heat energy of an electric arc is employed for melting the electrodes and depositing material layers for wall formation or for simultaneously cladding two materials in order to form a composite structure. This directed energy deposition-arc (DED-arc) method is advantageous and efficient as it produces large parts with structural integrity due to the high deposition rates, reduced wastage of raw material, and low consumption of energy in comparison with the conventional joining processes and other additive manufacturing technologies. These features have resulted in a constant and continuous increase in interest in this modern manufacturing technique which demands further studies to promote new industrial applications. The high demand for WAAM in aerospace, automobile, nuclear, moulds, and dies industries demonstrates compatibility and reflects comprehensiveness. This paper presents a comprehensive review on the evolution, development, and state of the art of WAAM for non-ferrous materials. Key research observations and inferences from the literature reports regarding the WAAM applications, methods employed, process parameter control, optimization and process limitations, as well as mechanical and metallurgical behavior of materials have been analyzed and synthetically discussed in this paper. Information concerning constraints and enhancements of the wire arc additive manufacturing processes to be considered in terms of wider industrial applicability is also presented in the last part of this paper.

A Brief Review on The Common Defects in Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

“…Therefore, best way to regulate distortions is to monitor the build-up of residual stresses through the deposition process. Thus, preventing build-up of residual stresses can be obtained by applying interpass cooling to avoid extreme heating and maintaining enough preheating to moderate deformation [151,154]. Also, uniform substrate preheating reduces residual stresses and deformation.…”

Colloidal Processing of Complex-Shaped ZrB2-Based Ultra-High-Temperature Ceramics: Progress and Prospects

“…Additive manufacturing (AM), also called 3D printing, has been developing and has drawn great attention recently [84][85][86]. Compared with traditional manufacturing technologies (even traditional colloidal processing technologies), additive manufacturing cannot be restricted by mold-making or processing technology, solves the formation of complex-shaped structure products, and greatly reduces the processing procedures and shortens the processing cycle.…”

Experimental Study on the Manufacturing of Steel Inclined Walls by Directed Energy Deposition Based on Dimensional and 3D Surface Roughness Measurements

“…Within the DED processes, additive manufacturing by wire arc (WAAM) allows the manufacture of metal parts in alloys based on Al, Ti, steel, Ni and bimetal, as in the case of CMT-based WAAM for NiTi shape memory alloys [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. According to the ISO 17296-2 standard [ 9 ], in terms of filament-feed-based additive manufacturing methods, there are three families of heat sources: laser, welding arc and electron beam.…”