Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of Stainless Steels: A Review

Abstract

Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) has been considered as a promising technology for the production of large metallic structures with high deposition rates and low cost. Stainless steels are widely applied due to good mechanical properties and excellent corrosion resistance. This paper reviews the current status of stainless steel WAAM, covering the microstructure, mechanical properties, and defects related to different stainless steels and process parameters. Residual stress and distortion of the WAAM manufactured components are discussed. Specific WAAM techniques, material compositions, process parameters, shielding gas composition, post heat treatments, microstructure, and defects can significantly influence the mechanical properties of WAAM stainless steels. To achieve high quality WAAM stainless steel parts, there is still a strong need to further study the underlying physical metallurgy mechanisms of the WAAM process and post heat treatments to optimize the WAAM and heat treatment parameters and thus control the microstructure. WAAM samples often show considerable anisotropy both in microstructure and mechanical properties. The new in-situ rolling + WAAM process is very effective in reducing the anisotropy, which also can reduce the residual stress and distortion. For future industrial applications, fatigue properties, and corrosion behaviors of WAAMed stainless steels need to be deeply studied in the future. Additionally, further efforts should be made to improve the WAAM process to achieve faster deposition rates and better-quality control.

Additive manufacturing of WC-Co hardmetals: a review

“…The main additive manufacturing technologies suitable for metals are selective laser melting (SLM), selective electron beam melting (SEBM), laser powder deposition, binder jet additive manufacturing (BJAM), and wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]. So far, AM technologies have been successfully applied to stainless steels [50][51][52][53][54], Ni alloys [55,56], Ti alloys [57,58], refractory metals [59,60], Al alloys [61,62], etc. For tungsten carbide-cobalt, it still remains very challenging to use AM due to its very high melting temperature.…”

Applications of Additively Manufactured Tools in Abrasive Machining—A Literature Review

“…WAAM adopts arc welding tools and wire as feedstock for the fabrication of structures of low to medium complexity [ 48 ]. Although the parts built by WAAM are near-net shape, they often show significant anisotropy in terms of both microstructure and mechanical properties [ 49 ], with crack-like defects formed under unfavorable deposition conditions [ 50 ]. This is mainly due to the fact that in fusion-based AM technologies, the temperature involved in the process is higher than the melting point of the materials to be joined.…”

Advanced computational modelling of metallic wire-arc additive manufacturing

“…The geometry of the weld cross-section is usually simplified [5], but the geometry of the weld cross-section in the numerical model influences on the part thermo-mechanical state during and after the welding process. To obtain a realistic mechanical state, like residual stress and distortion, of the part [6], it is important to compute the temporal distribution of the ESAFORM 2021. MS13 (Additive Manufacturing), 10.25518/esaform21.2340 2340/1 temperature field, taking into account realistic boundary conditions.…”