Multi-heat input technique for aluminum WAAM using DP-GMAW process

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies are the future of production. To create parts with complicated dimensions under material saving constraints, AM process has an advantage over the traditional manufacturing processes. In this study, the Double Pulse Gas Metal Arc Welding (DP-GMAW) used to build-up the aluminum laminate wall based on the concept of the Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). The GMAW robotic uses the aluminum filler wire ER5356 of diameter 1.2 millimeters as the additive material and aluminum 5083 as the substrate material. This additive process is shielded by industrial-grade argon gas. The present study research aims to improve the uniformity of the wall dimension by using the technique of multi-heat input/multi-condition proposed by this research. A technique used reduce the heat input during the build-up process. In this work, the build-up is performed on a closed figure path by laminating additive materials layer after layer. A total of 20 layers were performed with the double pulse welding parameters fixed to 5 Hz of frequency, 50 % of Duty cycle and Delta current set to 30 amperes. Moreover, each lamination was a constant of 1 millimeter in height. As for the multi-condition, it involves two techniques: (1) Reducing the welding current, and (2) Increasing the travel speed. The results indicated that the multi-heat input technique can improve the lamination dimension when compared to the fixed-heat input laminate wall. Furthermore, it was also found from the two techniques, the reducing of welding current technique produces more uniform laminate than increasing the travel speed technique. Therefore, it can be concluded that multi-heat input under the current reduction technique is the most appropriate approach to perform effective and uniform lamination layers.

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