Practical Guidelines for Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of Steel Components

Abstract With the aim to contribute towards the standardisation of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) and the adoption of WAAM in steel construction, the present paper draws from the experience gathered through the production of more than one tonne of WAAM steel specimens for the purposes of structural testing to synthesise practical guidelines that can be followed in WAAM processes. Challenges that are typically faced during production are presented and mitigation measures are recommended. For the calibration of the process parameters, an investigation matrix approach, which involves the printing of a matrix of short WAAM walls and their categorisation in weld quality classes (Class A to Class D), is proposed. A comprehensive framework for the production of WAAM components comprising six steps, including the calibration of the system components and process parameters, the design and execution of the printing process, the assessment of the weld quality and the post‐processing of the logged welding data, is proposed.