Purpose

Additive manufacturing based on arc welding is a fast and effective way to fabricate complex and irregular metal workpieces. Thin-wall metal structures are widely used in the industry. However, it is difficult to realize support-free freeform thin-wall structures. This paper aims to propose a new method of non-supporting thin-wall structure (NSTWS) manufacturing by gas metal arc welding (GMAW) with the help of a multi-degree of freedom robot arm.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the geodesic distance on the triangular mesh to build a scalar field, and then the equidistant iso-polylines are obtained, which are used as welding paths for thin-wall structures. Focusing on the possible problems of interference and the violent variation of the printing directions, this paper proposes two types of methods to partition the model mesh and generate new printable iso-polylines on the split meshes.

Findings

It is found that irregular thin-wall models such as an elbow, a vase or a transition structure can be deposited without any support and with a good surface quality after applying the methods.

Originality/value

The experiments producing irregular models illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the methods to fabricate NSTWSs, which could provide guidance to some industrial applications.

中文翻译：

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基于GMAW的无支撑薄壁结构制造研究

目的

基于电弧焊的增材制造是一种快速有效的方法来制造复杂且不规则的金属工件。薄壁金属结构在工业中被广泛使用。然而，难以实现无支撑的自由形式薄壁结构。本文旨在借助多自由度机械臂，提出一种通过气体保护金属电弧焊（GMAW）制造非支撑薄壁结构（NSTWS）的新方法。

设计/方法/方法

这项研究利用三角形网格上的测地距离建立标量场，然后获得等距的等折线，将其用作薄壁结构的焊接路径。针对可能出现的干扰问题和打印方向剧烈变化的问题，本文提出了两种方法来划分模型网格并在拆分的网格上生成新的可打印等折线。

发现

发现使用该方法后，可以沉积不规则的薄壁模型，例如肘，花瓶或过渡结构，而无需任何支撑，并且具有良好的表面质量。

创意/价值

产生不规则模型的实验说明了制造NSTWS的方法的可行性和有效性，这可以为某些工业应用提供指导。