Effect of deposition rate on microstructure and mechanical properties of wire arc additive manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V components

Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a novel manufacturing technique by which high strength metal components can be fabricated layer by layer using an electric arc as the heat source and metal wire as feedstock, and offers the potential to produce large dimensional structures at much higher build rate and minimum waste of raw material. In the present work, a cold metal transfer (CMT) based additive manufacturing was carried out and the effect of deposition rate on the microstructure and mechanical properties of WAAM Ti-6Al-4V components was investigated. The microstructure of WAAM components showed similar microstructural morphology in all deposition conditions. When the deposition rate increased from 1.63 to 2.23 kg/h, the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) decreased from 984.6 MPa to 899.2 MPa and the micro-hardness showed a scattered but clear decline trend.