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The purpose of this paper is to improve the dimensional accuracy of inclined thin-walled parts fabricated by laser direct metal deposition (DMD) under an open-loop control system.

In this study, a novel method of the adaptive slicing method and DMD process with feedback adjustment of deposition height has been developed to successively fabricate complex inclined thin-walled square tube elbow parts. The defocus amount was used as a variable to the matching between the deposition thickness and the adaptive slicing height.

The low relative error of dimensional accuracy between experimental and designed parts shows that the matching of the single-layer deposition thickness and the adaptive slicing height can be realized by optimizing the defocusing amount. The negative feedback of the thin-wall part height can be achieved when the defocus amount and the z-axis increment are less than deposition thickness. The improvement of dimensional accuracy of inclined thin-walled parts is also attributed to the optimized scanning strategy.

The slicing method and deposition process can provide technical guidance for other additive manufacturing (AM) systems to fabricate metal thin-walled parts with high dimensional accuracy because the feedback control of deposition height can be realized only by the optimized process.

This study provides a novel adaptive slice method and corresponding the deposition process, and expands the slicing method of AM metal parts.

Robotic wire and arc additive manufacturing (RWAAM) is becoming more and more popular for its capability of fabricating metallic parts with complicated structure. To unlock the potential of 6-DOF industrial robots and improve the power of additive manufacturing, this paper aims to present a method to fabricate curved overhanging thin-walled parts free from turn table and support structures.

Five groups of straight inclined thin-walled parts with different angles were fabricated with the torch aligned with the inclination angle using RWAAM, and the angle precision was verified by recording the growth of each layer in both horizontal and vertical directions; furthermore, the experimental phenomena was explained with the force model of the molten pool and the forming characteristics was investigated. Based on the results above, an algorithm for fabricating curved overhanging thin-walled part was presented and validated.

The force model and forming characteristics during the RWAAM process were investigated. Based on the result, the influence of the torch orientation on the weld pool flow was used to control the pool flow, then a practical algorithm for fabricating curved overhanging thin-walled part was proposed and validated.

Regarding the fabrication of curved overhanging thin-walled parts, given the influences of the torch angles on the deposited morphology, porosity formation rate and weld pool flow, the flexibility of 6-DOF industrial robot was fully used to realize instant adjustment of the torch angle. In this paper, the deposition point and torch orientation of each layer of a robotic fabrication path was determined by the contour equation of the curve surface. By adjusting the torch angle, the pool flow was controlled and better forming quality was acquired.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a build strategy for inclined thin-walled parts by exploiting the inherent overhanging capability of the cold metal transfer (CMT) process, which release wire-arc additive manufacturing from tedious programming work and restriction of producible size of parts.

Inclined thin-walled parts were fabricated with vertically placed welding torch free from any auxiliary equipment. The inclined features were defined and analyzed based on the geometrical model of inclined parts. A statistical prediction model was developed to describe the dependence of inclined geometrical features on process variables. Based on these models, a build strategy was proposed to plan tool path and output process parameters. After that, the flow work was illustrated by fabricating a vase part.

The formation mechanism and regulation of inclined geometrical features were revealed by conducting experimental trials. The inclined angle can be significantly increased along with the travel speed and offset distance, whereas the wall width is mainly dependent on the ratio of wire feed speed to travel speed. In contrast to other welding process, CMT has a stronger overhanging capability, which provides the possibility to fabricate parts with large overhanging features directly with high forming accuracy.

This paper describes a novel build strategy for inclined thin-walled parts free from any auxiliary equipment. With the proposed strategy, a complex structural component can be deposited directly in the rectangular coordinates additive manufacturing system, indicating infinite possibilities on the producible size of the parts. Moreover, equipment requirements and tedious program work can also be significantly reduced.

This paper aims to fabricate inclined thin-walled components using positional wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) and investigate the heat transfer characteristics of inclined thin-walled parts via finite element analysis method.

An inclined thin-walled part is fabricated in gas metal arc (GMA)-based additive manufacturing using a positional deposition approach in which the torch is set to be inclined with respect to the substrate surface. A three-dimensional finite element model is established to simulate the thermal process of the inclined component based on a general Goldak double ellipsoidal heat source and a combined heat dissipation model. Verification tests are performed based on thermal cycles of locations on the substrate and the molten pool size.

The simulated results are in agreement with experimental tests. It is shown that the dwell time between two adjacent layers greatly influences the number of the re-melting layers. The temperature distribution on both sides of the substrate is asymmetric, and the temperature peaks and temperature gradients of points in the same distance from the first deposition layer are different. Along the deposition path, the temperature distribution of the previous layer has a significant influence on the heat dissipation condition of the next layer.

The established finite element model is helpful to simulate and understand the heat transfer process of geometrical thin-walled components in WAAM.

An accurate prediction of process-induced residual stress is necessary to prevent large distortion and cracks in gas metal arc (GMA)-based additive manufactured parts, especially thin-walled parts. The purpose of this study is to present an investigation into predicting the residual stress distributions of a thin-walled component with geometrical features.

A coupled thermo-mechanical finite element model considering a general Goldak double ellipsoidal heat source is built for a thin-walled component with geometrical features. To confirm the accuracy of the model, corresponding experiments are performed using a positional deposition method in which the torch is tilted from the normal direction of the substrate. During the experiment, the thermal cycle curves of locations on the substrate are obtained by thermocouples. The residual stresses on the substrate and part are measured using X-ray diffraction. The validated model is used to investigate the thermal stress evolution and residual stress distributions of the substrate and part.

Decent agreements are achieved after comparing the experimental and simulated results. It is shown that the geometrical feature of the part gives rise to an asymmetrical transversal residual stress distribution on the substrate surface, while it has a minimal influence on the longitudinal residual stress distribution. The residual stress distributions of the part are spatially uneven. The longitudinal tensile residual stress is the prominent residual stress in the central area of the component. Large wall-growth tensile residual stresses, which may cause delamination, appear at both ends of the component and the substrate–component interfaces.

The predicted residual stress distributions of the thin-walled part with geometrical features are helpful to understand the influence of geometry on the thermo-mechanical behavior in GMA-based additive manufacturing.

Using wire as feedstock has several advantages for additive manufacturing (AM) of metal components, which include high deposition rates, efficient material use and low material costs. While the feasibility of wire-feed AM has been demonstrated, the accuracy and surface finish of the produced parts is generally lower than those obtained using powder-bed/-feed AM. The purpose of this study was to develop and investigate the feasibility of a fine wire-based laser metal deposition (FW-LMD) process for producing high-precision metal components with improved resolution, dimensional accuracy and surface finish.

The proposed FW-LMD AM process uses a fine stainless steel wire with a diameter of 100 µm as the additive material and a pulsed Nd:YAG laser as the heat source. The pulsed laser beam generates a melt pool on the substrate into which the fine wire is fed, and upon moving the X–Y stage, a single-pass weld bead is created during solidification that can be laterally and vertically stacked to create a 3D metal component. Process parameters including laser power, pulse duration and stage speed were optimized for the single-pass weld bead. The effect of lateral overlap was studied to ensure low surface roughness of the first layer onto which subsequent layers can be deposited. Multi-layer deposition was also performed and the resulting cross-sectional morphology, microhardness, phase formation, grain growth and tensile strength have been investigated.

An optimized lateral overlap of about 60-70% results in an average surface roughness of 8-16 µm along all printed directions of the X–Y stage. The single-layer thickness and dimensional accuracy of the proposed FW-LMD process was about 40-80 µm and ±30 µm, respectively. A dense cross-sectional morphology was observed for the multilayer stacking without any visible voids, pores or defects present between the layers. X-ray diffraction confirmed a majority austenite phase with small ferrite phase formation that occurs at the junction of the vertically stacked beads, as confirmed by the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis. Tensile tests were performed and an ultimate tensile strength of about 700-750 MPa was observed for all samples. Furthermore, multilayer printing of different shapes with improved surface finish and thin-walled and inclined metal structures with a minimum achievable resolution of about 500 µm was presented.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to report a directed energy deposition process using a fine metal wire with a diameter of 100 µm and can be a possible solution to improving surface finish and reducing the “stair-stepping” effect that is generally observed for wires with a larger diameter. The AM process proposed in this study can be an attractive alternative for 3D printing of high-precision metal components and can find application for rapid prototyping in a range of industries such as medical and automotive, among others.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influencing rule of the standoff distance variations between the nozzle outlet and the powder deposition point on forming dimensional accuracy.

The thin‐wall parts were built with three different standoff distances: 1 mm more than the powder focus length, equal to the powder focus length and 1 mm less than the powder focus length. Based on the experimental results, the steady standoff distance can be acquired and the difference between the building height and the ideal height of thin‐wall parts can be compensated automatically in several layers by theoretical calculation.

The experimental results show that the top surface unevenness of thin‐wall parts can be compensated automatically on the consequent successive layers when the standoff distance is less than the powder focal length from the nozzle outlet to the powder focal point, and the poorer results are obtained when the standoff distance is equal to or more than the powder focal length in the deposition of stainless steel 316L under open‐loop control.

The shape of parts affects the self‐regulation effect in practical applications, so the self‐regulation effect is useful when the single contour of parts is continuous straight faces and the surface of parts is perpendicular to the build platform, and will be useless for parts with holes.

According to the requirements under different process conditions in practical applications, one should first find out the relationship between the standoff distance and the building height of single‐trace cladding layer, and then use regression algorithm to obtain the stable standoff distance by simple theoretical calculation. The uniform building height, layer thickness and smooth surface can be obtained at the stable standoff distance under open‐loop control.

Because of the advantages of high deposition efficiency and low manufacturing cost compared with other additive technologies, robotic wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) technology has been widely applied for fabricating medium- to large-scale metallic components. The additive manufacturing (AM) method is a relatively complex process, which involves the workpiece modeling, conversion of the model file, slicing, path planning and so on. Then the structure is formed by the accumulated weld bead. However, the poor forming accuracy of WAAM usually leads to severe dimensional deviation between the as-built and the predesigned structures. This paper aims to propose a visual sensing technology and deep learning–assisted WAAM method for fabricating metallic structure, to simplify the complex WAAM process and improve the forming accuracy.

Instead of slicing of the workpiece modeling and generating all the welding torch paths in advance of the fabricating process, this method is carried out by adding the feature point regression branch into the Yolov5 algorithm, to detect the feature point from the images of the as-built structure. The coordinates of the feature points of each deposition layer can be calculated automatically. Then the welding torch trajectory for the next deposition layer is generated based on the position of feature point.

The mean average precision score of modified YOLOv5 detector is 99.5%. Two types of overhanging structures have been fabricated by the proposed method. The center contour error between the actual and theoretical is 0.56 and 0.27 mm in width direction, and 0.43 and 0.23 mm in height direction, respectively.

The fabrication of circular overhanging structures without using the complicate slicing strategy, turning table or other extra support verified the possibility of the robotic WAAM system with deep learning technology.

Additive manufacturing based on arc welding is a fast and effective way to fabricate complex and irregular metal workpieces. Thin-wall metal structures are widely used in the industry. However, it is difficult to realize support-free freeform thin-wall structures. This paper aims to propose a new method of non-supporting thin-wall structure (NSTWS) manufacturing by gas metal arc welding (GMAW) with the help of a multi-degree of freedom robot arm.

This study uses the geodesic distance on the triangular mesh to build a scalar field, and then the equidistant iso-polylines are obtained, which are used as welding paths for thin-wall structures. Focusing on the possible problems of interference and the violent variation of the printing directions, this paper proposes two types of methods to partition the model mesh and generate new printable iso-polylines on the split meshes.

It is found that irregular thin-wall models such as an elbow, a vase or a transition structure can be deposited without any support and with a good surface quality after applying the methods.

The experiments producing irregular models illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the methods to fabricate NSTWSs, which could provide guidance to some industrial applications.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the forming efficiency and quality of unequal-width parts fabricated by laser direct metal deposition technology, some experiments were designed.

A new method by varying laser spot was adopted to fabricate unequal-width single track using one scanning rather than multi-track overlapping in the way of the inside-beam powder feeding, and the thin-walled parts were fabricated layer by layer. The theoretical model among layer thickness of z-axis, height of single track and the section curve order of single track was established.

The top surface unevenness of the thin-walled parts could be compensated automatically within the laser defocusing ranges from −2.5 to −5 mm and from 0.5 to 2.5 mm. The growth rate with the large width/height ratio was more than the small ratio, while the set height of the single track was uniform. The problem of non-uniform growth rate could be solved based on a stepped single-track method. The thin-walled parts with the smooth top surface was fabricated layer by layer which had a continuously variable width from 1 to 3 mm by splicing the laser defocusing range.

The shapes of the to-be-fabricated parts affect variable laser spot process in practical applications. For example, it will be difficult to apply variable laser spot process on the parts with the hole features.

This paper provided a guidance for forming unequal-width parts by laser direct metal deposition based on the inside-beam powder feeding.