For the last decade, additive manufacturing (AM) has been revolutionising the aerospace industry, building and repairing various components for aircrafts and outer space vehicles. Despite the fact that AM is gaining rapid adoption by the industry, it is still considered a developing technology, with ongoing research in a variety of fields. Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), a welding-based AM technology, is an active field of research as well, because it enables economical production of large-scale metal components with relatively high deposition rates. In this article, the effects on the weld-bead geometry and heat affected zone from high and low frequency pulsed current are explored on Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW). The materials used in this investigation were selected to be Ti-6-4 and Inconel 718, both highly used in the aerospace industry for their high strength-to-weight ratio and strength at elevated temperatures respectively. The design of the experiments followed a Taguchi-inspired orthogonal array, altering, apart from the current modes and values, the torch travel speed driven by an industrial robotic arm as well as the wire-feeding rate.

The results demonstrate the ability to control both the weld-bead dimensions and penetration depth, as well as the heat affected regions, by utilizing the dual pulsing combination of both high and low frequency pulsing. Alterations from wide beads with deep penetration to narrower beads with greater height-to-width ratios are demonstrated in a single manufacturing setup, enabling further development of the WAAM process.

在过去的十年中，增材制造（AM）一直在改变航空航天工业，制造和维修飞机和外层空间飞行器的各种组件。尽管AM已迅速被业界采用，但仍被认为是一种发展中的技术，并在各个领域进行了不断的研究。电弧增材制造（WAAM）是一种基于焊接的增材制造技术，也是一项活跃的研究领域，因为它可以经济地生产具有较高沉积速率的大型金属部件。在本文中，探讨了气体钨极电弧焊（GTAW）对高频和低频脉冲电流对焊缝几何形状和热影响区的影响。本次调查使用的材料选择为Ti-6-4和Inconel 718，两者均以其高的重量重量比和高温下的强度而在航空航天工业中得到高度使用。实验的设计遵循了Taguchi启发的正交阵列，除了当前的模式和值之外，还改变了工业机器人手臂驱动的割炬行进速度以及送丝速度。

结果表明，通过利用高频和低频脉冲的双重脉冲组合，可以控制焊缝尺寸和熔深以及热影响区域。在单个制造设置中就演示了从具有深穿透力的宽珠到高高宽比的窄珠的变化，从而可以进一步开发WAAM工艺。