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Effect of droplet transfer mode on composition homogeneity of twin-wire plasma arc additively manufactured titanium aluminide

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Abstract

Twin-wire plasma arc additive manufacturing (TW-PAAM) is an innovative process for titanium aluminide manufacture which is low in equipment cost and high in efficiency. However, as an in situ alloying process, the composition homogeneity is typically a source of concern. The present work investigates this subject by observing the element input mode at various welding wire positions with a high-speed camera system and particle tracking method. It is found that when the welding wires are in a high position, the droplet enters the molten pool from the tip of the titanium wire, and the alloy element input interval is long, resulting in the formation of bands with high aluminium content at the edge of the deposition layer. When the welding wires are close to the workpiece surface, the droplet transfer mode switches to a mixture of dual wire-bridge transfer and Ti wire-bridge transfer. The diameter and transfer interval of the droplets decrease, as well as the heterogeneity of the deposition layer. The conclusion establishes a correlation between droplet transfer mode and composition homogeneity, which is beneficial for optimizing the TW-PAAM titanium aluminide fabrication process.

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Funding

This research is supported by both the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (STCSM, Funding No. 19511106400, “Sailing Program” No. 19YF1422700) and the “JSPS International Research Fellow” project (21F31063).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Material Laser Processing and Modification, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Jianwen Xin, Haiyao Chen, Lin Wang, Wenlu Zhou, Kanglong Wu, Yuelong Zhang, Chen Shen, Xueming Hua & Fang Li

  2. Joining and Welding Research Institute (JWRI), Osaka University, 11-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka, 567-0047, Japan

    Dongsheng Wu

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  1. Jianwen Xin
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  2. Dongsheng Wu
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  3. Haiyao Chen
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  4. Lin Wang
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  10. Fang Li
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Xin Jianwen and Chen Haiyao. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Xin Jianwen and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fang Li.

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Xin, J., Wu, D., Chen, H. et al. Effect of droplet transfer mode on composition homogeneity of twin-wire plasma arc additively manufactured titanium aluminide. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 124, 1723–1734 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-10592-7

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