Review on effect of heat input for wire arc additive manufacturing process

Abstract Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is steadily increasing with significant research work are underway. Ability of WAAM to manufacture a large-scale product at lower cost and shorter lead times has increased its development. The efficiency or potential of WAAM to become a new lead in additive manufacturing industry is believed to be realized by few factors. High efficiency and performance require higher metal deposition rate which implies higher heat input that negatively affect the manufacturing process. This paper is a review of works for factors on the effect of heat input on WAAM process. With the aim to identify the optimized WAAM process in terms of heat input, the factor affecting these properties were explained. The focus of this paper is on the impact of heat input on the macrostructure, microstructure and mechanical properties of the parts deposited in the WAAM process. Systematic review performed shows the effect of heat input used by eight different types of arc welding technologies mentioned, with suitable use of wire materials. The study also highlights that heat input affected the microstructure of the WAAM causing in significant changes in grain structure, grain size and pore area percentage. Besides, the grain structure determining the mechanical properties.