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Probing dimensional consistency during multi-track multi-layer gas metal arc directed energy deposition of aluminium alloys

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Abstract

The dimensional consistency of multi-track multi-layer parts fabricated by gas metal arc-directed energy deposition is by far the most critical challenge. A systematic investigation is presented here to examine the influence of the important process variables such as wire feed rate, printing travel speed and resulting energy input per unit length on the dimensional consistency and surface waviness of multi-track and multi-layer parts made by gas metal arc directed energy deposition using an aluminium alloy filler wire. The current and voltage transients are monitored in real-time to realize a quantitative measure of the arc power and energy input per unit length of deposition on the build profile and its dimensional consistency. The dimensional consistency and the surface waviness of the build profile are measured by optical microscopy. The microhardness distribution of the sample builds along the tracks and layers is also examined for different process conditions and the effect of energy input per unit length on microhardness distribution has been examined. The evaluation of the experimentally measured results shows that the dimensional inconsistency and surface unevenness of the deposited profiles can be reduced significantly by increasing the energy input per unit length for gas metal arc-directed energy deposition.

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Abbreviations

GMAW:

Gas metal arc welding

GMA-DED:

Gas metal arc directed energy deposition

GTA-DED:

Gas tungsten arc directed energy deposition

PTS:

Printing travel speed/mm/s

WFR:

Wire feed rate/m/min

E :

Energy input per unit length/J/mm

h :

Track height/mm

h e :

Effective height/mm

h t :

Measured height/mm

I a :

Arc current/A

I i :

Instantaneous arc current/A

p :

Penetration/mm

P :

Arc power/W

t :

Total cycle time/ms

t B :

Pulse-off time/ms

t P :

Pulse-on time/ms

t i :

Instantaneous time/ms

V a :

Arc voltage/V

V i :

Instantaneous arc voltage/V

w :

Track width/mm

w e :

Effective width/mm

w m :

Measured width/mm

δ :

Hatch spacing/mm

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the support from the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) grant IGSTC/Call 2020/RAMFLICS/52/2021-22/253 for carrying out this work at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, 400076, India

    P. K. Chaurasia, B. K. Barik & A. De

  2. Materials Engineering Division, CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, 831007, India

    A. Das

  3. Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Applied Sciences, 14770, Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany

    S.-F. Goecke

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Contributions

PKC: experimentation, analysis, measurements, writing—original draft. BKB: experimentation, analysis, measurements, writing—review and editing, AD: analysis, measurements, writing—review and editing, SFG: conceptualization, writing—review and editing. AD: conceptualization, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to P. K. Chaurasia.

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Appendices

Appendix 1 Single-track multi-layer wall deposits

Figure 11a–c and d–f show the transverse cross-section profiles of the single-track five- and nine-layer aluminium wall deposits at three different process conditions; S1–S3 (Table 2). As the energy input increases, the average width of the wall is found to increase for five- and nine-layer wall deposits. This is attributed to the increase in the rate of depositing material with an increase in the WFR at constant PTS or a decrease in the PTS at constant WFR. The measured width (wm) and surface waviness along the wall height are presented in Fig. 5a, b for the single-track five- and nine-layer wall deposits shown in Figs 11a–f, followed by a detailed discussion in Section 3.2.

Fig. 11
figure 11

Transverse cross-sectional views of the single-track a–c five-layer and d–f nine-layer wall deposits at three process conditions S1 (WFR: 5 m/min, PTS: 5 mm/s, E: 163 J/mm), S2 (WFR: 5 m/min, PTS: 7.5 mm/s, E: 109 J/mm) and S3 (WFR: 6 m/min, PTS: 7.5 mm/s, E: 173 J/mm)

Full size image

Appendix 2 Multi-track multi-layer build deposits

Figure 12a, b shows the transverse cross-section profiles of the five-track nine-layer aluminium builds at two different process conditions; S1 and S3 (Table 2). As observed in Fig. 11a–c and d–f, the overall build width is found to increase with an increase in the energy input for the five-track nine-layer build deposits shown in Fig. 12a, b. The measured build width (wm) and surface waviness along the build height are presented in Fig. 8a–d for the five-track nine-layer wall deposits at all three process conditions (Table 2), followed by a detailed discussion in Section 3.2. Further, the surface waviness along the top surface across the effective build width is also presented in Fig. 9d for all three process conditions (Table 2) and discussed subsequently.

Fig. 12
figure 12

Transverse cross-sectional views of the five-track nine-layer build deposits at two different conditions; a S1 (WFR: 5 m/min, PTS: 5 mm/s, E: 163 J/mm) and b S3 (WFR: 6 m/min, PTS: 7.5 mm/s, E: 173 J/mm). The transverse cross-sectional profile at S2 condition is already shown in Fig. 4

Full size image

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Chaurasia, P.K., Barik, B.K., Das, A. et al. Probing dimensional consistency during multi-track multi-layer gas metal arc directed energy deposition of aluminium alloys. Weld World 68, 925–938 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-024-01685-w

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