Directional Tensile properties of steel structure manufactured by robotic assisted GMAW additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is gaining popularity for aerospace structures because of its ability to manufacture very complex shapes that are not possible using subtractive manufacturing along with the benefit of least material wastage. Layer by layer deposition of material results in the final near-net shape using the power from electron beam, laser beam or electric arc. The material is generally melted from its initial powdered or wire form, latter being more efficient in terms of material utilization. Wire arc additive manufacturing includes GMAW, GTAW and plasma arc welding. In this research directional tensile properties of steel structure are studied which is created in a layer by layer fashion using robotic assisted GMAW. The arc start and end are the most important parts to control because they determine the continuation of process. To keep the height same throughout the process, different parameters are controlled including current voltage and travel speed. The resulting material may have different directional properties based on the final structure attained due to factors including many heating cycles and difference of parameters mentioned above to control the forming of final product achieved. The study focuses on the tensile properties of the samples taken in both parallel and perpendicular to the direction of deposition as well as at different layer levels.