Plasma Multiwire Technology with Alternating Wire Feed for Tailor-Made Material Properties in Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is one of the most promising technologies for large-scale 3D printing of metal parts. Besides the high deposition rates, one of the advantages of WAAM is the possibility of using in situ alloying to modify the chemical composition and therefore the material properties of the fabricated workpiece. This can be achieved by feeding multiple wires of different chemical compositions into the molten pool of the welding process and generating a new alloy during the manufacturing process itself. At present, the chemical composition is changed stepwise by keeping the wire feed speeds per layer constant. This article describes the possibilities of generating chemically graded structures by constantly alternating the wire feed speeds of a multiwire WAAM process. This enables the chemical composition to be smoothly changed during the printing process, and generating structures with highly complex material properties. Several material combinations for different possible applications were successfully tested. Furthermore, grading strategies to avoid negative influences of low-ductility intermetallic phases were examined. The results show that low-ductility phases may even have a beneficial influence on the fracture behavior if they are combined with ductile phases. Moreover, prospective possible applications are discussed.