Abstract:

Metal additive manufacturing (MAM) which is an innovative technology is presently being applied in various industries such as aeronautics-space, energy, automotive, and medicine. Metal parts are produced in three different ways in metal additive manufacturing methods. These are powder bed fusion, powder fed fusion and wire fed fusion systems. In the first two of these methods, metal or alloy powders are used as raw materials, while in the third method, the filler wire made of metal or alloys is the starting material. However, metal powders, especially alloy powders, are quite costly. This in turn makes the production of metal parts using filler wire very attractive. Another advantage of wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is its potential to produce small- and medium-sized parts economically with high deposition rate. Nowadays, this innovative manufacturing technology is being considered a promising fabrication technology for manufacturing several products from various engineering materials such as titanium and its alloys, aluminum and its alloys, nickel-based alloys and steels. In this paper, studies on WAAM and commonly used metallic wires and the microstructure and mechanical properties of the parts produced by this method will be discussed. In addition, defects such as deformation, porosity and crack formation encountered in WAAM and their reasons will also be discussed. Finally, the problems which have to be overcome for a wider application of this production method in the manufacturing of metallic parts, will be summarized.

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