The Forming Profile Model for Cold Metal Transfer and Plasma Wire-Arc Deposition of Nickel-Based Alloy

Abstract

The effect of process parameters on the forming profile of nickel-based alloy deposited by plasma and cold metal transfer (CMT) wire-arc deposition was comparatively studied. The plasma arc welding (PAW) deposition presented good wettability and high dilution rate, while CMT deposition showed the opposite. The ellipse and parabola function models for single weld bead forming profile were established by MATLAB software. The results showed that the ellipse function model had the higher similarity with the profile features of PAW and CMT deposition in terms of area error and matching degree. The single-layer multi-bead (SLMB) and single-bead multi-layer (SBML) forming profile of PAW and CMT were predicted, respectively, according to the size of wetting angle and the length of ellipse axis. There was an incomplete fusion defect at the weld toe when depositing SLMB by CMT, but not by PAW. In the SBML experiment, two sides of the PAW deposition layer were both smoother than those of the CMT deposition layer.