Thermal Analysis in Wire Arc Additively Manufactured SS308L Walls via Numerical Simulations

Wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is recently adopted for the fabrication of components with wide dimensions thanks to its high rate of deposition and low devices’ costs. In this process, an electrical arc is utilized as the heat source for melting the metallic wire, and the melted wire is directly added into the parts in a layer-by-layer manner. One of the major challenges related to this method is the heat accumulation in fabricated parts, which causes high thermal distortions and residual stresses. The thermal variation also results in the anisotropy of microstructures and mechanical properties of the built component. Therefore, the thermal evolution analysis in WAAM is crucial. In this paper, the thermal evolution in WAAMed thin-walled parts is analyzed through numerical simulations. The effects of different depositing strategies on the thermal evolution are also discussed. The results achieved in this work will be served important evidences to interpret the microstructure formation and mechanical properties of as-built components. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.