Preliminary development of a Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing system (WAAM)

Abstract

Additive manufacturing has experienced a remarkably growth over the last few years, making possible not only to make prototypes, but also to produce final products, so nowadays most of recent works are focused in metal additive manufacturing. The main objective of this work is to show the first experiences in the development of a cost effective metal additive manufacturing system on the basis of gas metal arc welding (GMAW). The proposed system, wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), integrates a cold metal transfer (CMT) welding equipment patented by Fronius® and a CNC milling machine Optimus with three axis and it presents the advantages to reduce the heat accumulation originated using a conventional GMAW equipment and the possibility to implement surface finish operations by milling. Preliminary results are also presented.