A comprehensive review of ultrasonic additive manufacturing
ISSN: 1355-2546
Article publication date: 3 December 2019
Issue publication date: 3 April 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to comprehensively review ultrasonic additive manufacturing (UAM) process history, technology advancements, application areas and research areas. UAM, a hybrid 3D metal printing technology, uses ultrasonic energy to produce metallurgical bonds between layers of metal foils near room temperature. No melting occurs in the process – it is a solid-state 3D metal printing technology.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is formatted chronologically to help readers better distinguish advancements and changes in the UAM process through the years. Contributions and advancements are summarized by academic or research institution following this chronological format.
Findings
This paper summarizes key physics of the process, characterization methods, mechanical properties, past and active research areas, process limitations and application areas.
Originality/value
This paper reviews the UAM process for the first time.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge financial support from NASA’s SBIR Office for the following grants: NNX17CM63P, NNX16CL33C, NNX16CP13C and NNX16CL34C. The authors are grateful for the technical collaboration and support from John Sheridan, Marcia Domack, John “Andy” Newman, William Leser, Patrick Leser, AJ Mastropietro, Scott Roberts, Jenny Sietins and Tracie Prater. The authors would like to acknowledge financial support from Oak Ridge National lab and are grateful for the technical collaboration and support from Kurt Terrani, Suresh Babu, Niyanth Sridharan and Chris Petrie.
Citation
Hehr, A. and Norfolk, M. (2020), "A comprehensive review of ultrasonic additive manufacturing", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 445-458. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-03-2019-0056
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited