Current status and future trends of multi- electrode arc welding and additive manufacturing technology

Addressing the need for high-precision shape control and low-damage property control in formed parts， as well as the goal of achieving deep decoupling of thermal， mass， and force aspects of the heat source while increasing the deposition rate， multi-electrode arc welding/additive manufacturing （AM） technology has gradually become a focal point of interest in both academia and industry. This paper systematically reviews the development history of multi-electrode arc processes， comprehensively summarizes the cutting-edge research achievements in the field of multi-electrode arc welding and AM， and categorizes and summarizes different types of coupled arcs in multi-electrode arcs. The multi-electrode arc system achieves finer control over the thermal-mass-force transfer process of the hybrid arc by introducing multiple electrodes， which helps optimize the forming quality of deposited layers， reduce defects， and improve manufacturing precision. This study highlights the differences in heat source and electrode arrangement configurations among various types of multi-electrode arc processes， and their distinct thermal-mass-force decoupling transfer characteristics， summarizes the influence mechanisms of welding process parameters on the stability of hybrid arcs. Finally， this paper proposes multi-electrode arc characteristics suitable for wire arc additive manufacturing， explores the high-performance manufacturing of composite components， and establishes a process database for novel multi-electrode arc technologies， which provide valuable insights for the application and promotion of coupled arc and multi-electrode arc AM technologies.