Development of low-cost production process for prototype components based on Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM)

摘要

Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing is a fast-growing technology that allows to produce medium to large metal parts in both a material- and cost-efficient way. Because it is based on existing welding technology, it is certainly an affordable technology for small and medium sized companies. However, the integration of this technology for prototype manufacturing still needs certain difficulties to be solved, such as the determination of process parameters and deposition strategies, programming software to be used, postprocessing, etc. This paper focuses on the different steps to be taken to adapt the existing Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) technology into an affordable and efficient WAAM technology. The technology developed has been integrated within a robotized platform. Experiments for the determination of bead geometry were conducted both for conventional GMAW (MAG welding) and Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) welding. A central composite rotatable design (CCD) was used for fitting second-order response surfaces, allowing to predict bead geometry corresponding to the welding parameters and to set the required information for generating the robot programs. Also, productivity of both processes was compared, highlighting significant dependency on part’s geometry and dimensions as also the quantity of parts simultaneously produced.