Limiting travel speed in additive layer manufacturing

Wire and Arc Additive Manufacture (WAAM) is new approache to modern manufacturing. This technology has been gaining the interest of the research community due to its high deposition rate and efficiency. In Wire and Arc Additive Manufacture an increase in productivity can be achieved through the use of high weld travel speeds. However, this can be overshadowed by the so called humping effect. Humping is a defect in welding which expresses itself by the formation of humps and valleys that prevent further welding deposition operation. The generation of these defects is studied by critically examining the various weld travel speeds from different weld parameters. From the study the actual weld travel speed in which humping formation starts to appear is 0.6m/min. The effects of wire feed speed and travel speed on bead geometries are also been discussed.