Influence of overlapping distance on the mechanical properties and surface roughness of the E71T1 mild steel in Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing process

WAAM (Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing) is increasingly recognized for its significant potential in various industrial applications, such as aerospace structural components, custom automotive parts, large marine components, and defense ammunition and weaponry. Achieving flat surfaces and consistent thickness in WAAM can indeed be challenging due to several factors, such as deposition parameters, material properties, real-time process control, inter-layer adhesion, residual stresses, and overlapping distance. The overlapping distance refers to the extent to which adjacent weld beads overlap each other during the layer-by-layer deposition process. Among others, overlapping distance is also critical parameter that determines the final geometry, surface finish, and mechanical properties of the manufactured part. In this work, we varied the overlapping distance between the E71T1 mild steel weld beads and measured the corresponding mechanical properties and surface roughness. A set of 27 experiments were conducted be varying the overlapping distance and keeping other process parameters constant, the corresponding mechanical properties and surface roughness. This study effectively identified the optimal overlapping distance that offers the best balance of mechanical properties and surface roughnesss.