The present paper aimed at assessing the effect of two thermal management approaches on geometry and productivity of thin-walled structures built by Wire + Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). Thin-walls of ER 5356 (Al5Mg) with different lengths and the same number of layers were deposited via the gas metal arc (GMA) process with the aid of an active cooling technique (near-immersion active cooling—NIAC) under a fixed set of deposition parameters. Then, the same experiment was performed with natural cooling (NC) in air. To characterize the thermal management approaches, the interpass temperature (i.e., the temperature at which subsequent layers are deposited) were monitored by a trailing/leading infrared pyrometer during the deposition time. Finally, thin walls with a fixed length were deposited using the NC and NIAC approaches with equivalent interpass temperatures. As expected, the shorter the wall length the more intense the deposition concentration, heat accumulation, and, thus, geometric deviation. This behavior was more evident and premature for the NC strategy due to its lower heat sinking effectiveness. The main finding was that, regardless of the thermal management technique applied, if the same interpass temperature is selected and maintained, the geometry of the part being built tends to be stable and very similar. However, the total deposition time is somewhat shorter with the NIAC technique due its greater heat sinking advantage. Thus, the NIAC technique facilitates the non-stop manufacturing of small parts and details via WAAM.

The successful and efficient production of parts with specific features by Wire + Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) strongly depends on the selection of proper and typically interrelated deposition parameters. This task might be particularly challenging in the making of thin walls, which might be highly impacted by processing conditions and heat accumulation. In this context, this study aims at expanding the work envelope and optimizing the parametric conditions in WAAM with relative density and surface aspects of the preforms as quality constraints. The experimental approach was based on the deposition of thin Al5Mg walls by the CMT process on its standard welding setup and with an active cooling technique to enhance the deposition robustness. Internal voids were estimated by Archimedes’ method. The surface quality of the walls was assessed through the visual aspect and the surface waviness by cross-section analysis. All the conditions presented relative density higher than 98%. The upgrade of the standard welding hardware to WAAM purposes through the addition of a supplementary shielding gas nozzle to the torch and the intensity of the heat sinking from the part significantly expanded the process work envelope, with its applicability being successfully demonstrated with multi-objective optimization. To sum up, a decision-making procedure is presented towards achieving intended preform quality.

Derivative welding processes are in many cases capable of altering phenomena that determine fundamental aspects of weld bead formation. Some of these evolutions act over the wire feed dynamics. However, in this scenario, the effects of the wire feed pulsation on the weld bead formation governing factors have not been fully explored yet. Therefore, this work aimed at examining how a wire feed pulsation approach affects the droplet transfer in gas metal arc welding and how its interaction with the molten pool defines the weld bead penetration. Bead-on-plate weldments were produced by varying the wire feed pulsation frequency, yet keeping the same levels of arc energy and wire feed speed, with the power source operating in constant voltage and current modes. To assess the droplet transfer behavior, high-speed imaging was used. The geometry of the weld beads was compared in terms of fusion penetration. The results showed that an increase in the wire feed pulsation frequency intensifies the detachment frequency of the droplets, being possible to accomplish a stable metal transfer with them straightly projected toward the weld pool, which contributed to a centralized-increased penetration profile. Based on a descriptive model, it was demonstrated that the increase in droplet momentum or kinetic energy, due to the wire feed pulsation, was not enough to justify the penetration enhancement. It was concluded that the wire feed dynamics can also stimulate surface tension variations in the weld pool and therefore disrupt the behavior of its mass and heat convection, supporting fusion penetration.