Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

OSE Context

Wire arc allows low feestock cost 3D metal printing of large parts. A spool of MIG wire is $1.15/lb in bulk -[1]. This is relevant to 3D printing towers for wind turbines, see 3D Printed Windmill tower, or 3D printing entire tractor frames.

Cost of shielding gas is $9/8 hour shift, about $1/hour. Deposition rates go up to 20 lb per hour. See Welding Deposition Rate. This means one spool is used up per 2 hours. $46 in metal, $2 in gas. So about 4% is shielding gas.

More

• Laser + TIG setup? - https://www.addere.com/addere-i
• Electron beam and laser beam can be used - [2]
• Is hot wire TIG used for 3D printing?
• TIG additive - Korea - [3]
• Paper on cold and hot wire TIG - [4]
• RepRap metal printer with TIG - [5]
• StrongPrint TIG with wire feed - [6]
• Review paper on Wire Arc Additive Mfg - WAAM - "The paper concludes that WAAM is a promising alternative to traditional subtractive manufacturing for fabricating large expensive metal components. [7]
• Companies producing cold weld spray 3d printing - [8]
• Metal arc from Prodways? - [9]. They call it forging, but it appears to be simple welding with shielding gas (SMAW)
• WAAM article - [10]

Examples

• Cranfield University is doing work on WAAM. Largest printed part - 6 meters long, 300lb, plain aluminum - [11]

• See their presentation - good insight - [12]
• They are making real structural parts.