Effect of single track spacing on the surface quality of electric-spark deposition layers

To investigate the impact of single-track spacing on the surface quality of the automated electric spark deposition layer, tests with varying single-track spacings ( d = 0.4–2.8 mm) were meticulously developed and executed. The effects of different single-track spacings on the roughness, average thickness, and average fluctuation value of the deposition layer, the deposition efficiency and material transfer efficiency during the deposition process were analyzed. The findings do not currently appear in other journals. The results show that as the single-track spacing increases, the deposited layer’s roughness initially reduces before increasing. When the single-track spacing is 0.8 mm, the deposited layer’s surface roughness reaches its lowest point. However, as the single-track spacing increases, the raised surface morphology of the adjacent deposited weld tracks becomes more and more apparent, and the shape of the deposited layer’s cross-section, with highs on both sides and lows in the middle, also becomes more and more self-evident, which causes the average fluctuation value to increase gradually. As the spacing between individual tracks increases, the overlap area between adjacent deposited layers becomes smaller and smaller, which causes the cross-sectional thickness of the deposited layer to decrease gradually. The electrode transverse motion deposition test’s deposition and material transfer efficiency go up and stay the same as the distance between each track gets bigger.