NEGATIVE EFFECT OF HIGH CURRENTS IN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURED PARTS OF AL-5356 ALLOY

: This paper investigates the impact of 3D printing parameters using the cold metal transfer (CMT) technique on the morphological, mechanical, and tribological properties of walls and massive parts made from aluminum alloy. The essential parameter studied is current intensity and its behavior on manufactured parts. Using the technique mentioned above that are walls and massive parts with different filling strategies, using grid and zigzag patterns and at different current intensities. The main goal of the article is to know the drawbacks of using high currents and to find out the welding parameters suitable for having parts with low defects and improved properties from morphological, mechanical and tribological properties point of view of CMTed parts of Al-5356 alloy. It has been observed from the results thus obtained that the high current intensity causes rapid solidification, resulting a high porosity and low hardness values. Furthermore, the results show that there is an evident relationship between hardness, coefficient of friction and wear test. Some interesting results are presented in this paper.