Skeleton arc additive manufacturing with closed loop control

Abstract Wire Arc Addtive Manufacturing (WAAM) is a promising direct energy deposition technology to produce high-value material components with a low buy-to-fly ratio. WAAM is able to produce thin-walled structures of large scale and also truss structures without any support. To manufacture complex parts, process reliability and repeatability are still a necessity and this often leads to long developing times. In this paper, a method is proposed to automatically manufacture complex truss structures with point by point arc additive manufacturing and a six axis robot. Computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software is designed to manage (i) material deposition at intersections and (ii) collisions between the part under construction and the torch. Because it is difficult to model the deposition process, the bead geometry is monitored using video imaging. Image treatment program detects the contour of the deposit and computes its current position. With this position, the CAM software corrects the geometry of the part for future deposition. Simple case studies are tested to validate the algorithm. Two solid free form geometries designed by topology optimization are manufactured with this skeleton arc additive manufacturing process.