Novel Process Approach for Extrusion-Based Metal Wire Additive Manufacturing Using Induction Heating as a Heat Source

A growing number of additive manufacturing (AM) applications use induction heating because of its precision, affordability, safety, and cleanliness. It is widely used in many industrial processes, such as melting, welding, brazing, and preheating. Wire is a considerably more efficient material to use than powder when used as feedstock. Unfortunately, there is still much to learn about the application of induction heating as a heat source in extrusion-based metal additive manufacturing, particularly when wire feedstock is used. This gap was filled by investigating, inhouse developed metal AM system which consists of the combination of induction heating as a heat source and metal wire as a feedstock in additive manufacturing. For this kind of application, induction heating is especially useful since it produces heat inside the workpiece by creating eddy currents. Finite element analysis was initially used to analyze the suitability of extruder material for printing aluminum material. After this investigation, the ability to print aluminum alloy in an extrusion-based metal wire additive manufacturing process with a cast iron extruder has been evaluated through experimentation. Simulation and experimentation results confirm the suitability of cast iron as an extruder material for printing aluminium alloys in a semi-solid state. The tensile test results of wire samples printed through induction heated metal additive manufacturing have been comparable to those of the original wire due to printing the same in a semi-solid state. Though they did not reach the levels attained by wire arc additive manufacturing and casting processes, it was found that the new extrusion-based wire samples showed better elongation and yield strength than the original wire.