Performance under tensile loading of point-by-point wire and arc additively manufactured steel bars for structural components

Abstract

The point-by-point wire and arc additive manufacturing technology allows precisely depositing of high strength material. In combination with a robotic arm and sensing techniques during printing, it can be used as a novel efficient joining method for custom structural steel components. For accessibility to the parts to be joined, flexibility on the orientation of the printing tool is of high significance. In this contribution, the focus is set on the influence of different printing orientations on relevant properties of point-by-point wire and arc additively manufactured steel bars. Geometry scans show an irregular variation of the cross-section area along the length of the bars. The mechanical properties of the bars are determined from uniaxial tensile tests on as-printed specimens and on locally milled specimens. It is shown, that different printing orientations have an influence on the geometry of the bars, but only a negligible effect on their mechanical properties. The results of the uniaxial tensile tests indicate a good suitability of the additively manufactured steel bars for structural applications. Finite element simulations validate a proposed elastic-plastic material model, which allows predicting the structural behaviour of the point-by-point wire and arc additively manufactured steel bars produced with different printing orientations.