Structure Formation and Mechanical Properties of Wire Arc Additively Manufactured Al4043 (AlSi5) Components

In the current paper, the correlation between the physical size of additively built wire arc specimens and their structure and properties is studied. For the purpose of this work, two oval shaped specimens of different lengths were manufactured under the same technological conditions. The specimens have a length of 200 mm and 400 mm and will be referred to as L200 and L400. The microstructure of the samples was studied using X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), optical microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The microhardness, yield strength (YS), and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) were determined and their correlation with the technological conditions of specimen build-up was clarified. The results of the carried out experiments indicated that the crystallographic structure of both specimens is similar. The scanning electron microscopy images show a higher concentration of irregularly shaped micro-pores formed near the edge of the αAl grains in the structure of the L400 specimen compared to the L200 one. An increase in the size of the αAl solid solution grains in the case of the L200 specimen towards its top section was noticed using optical microscopy. A slightly lower magnitude change was noticed concerning the L400 specimen. The increase in the size of the aluminum crystals was determined to be the increasing interpass temperature. Due to the much smaller thermal dissipation capacity of the smaller specimen, the interpass temperature of the same increased faster compared to the larger specimen. All of the above-mentioned factors led to a decrease in the microhardness of the specimens at higher stages of build-up. Since the specimens were deposited using similar layer deposition conditions, the resultant YS and UTS data are also highly comparable.