Journal of Manufacturing Processes 64 (2021) 188–197

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Journal of Manufacturing Processes

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/manpro

Wire arc additive manufacturing of an aeronautic fitting with different

metal alloys: From the design to the part
Alfredo Suárez a, Eider Aldalur a, *, Fernando Veiga a, Teresa Artaza a, Iván Tabernero b,
Aitzol Lamikiz c
a
TECNALIA, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Gipuzkoa, E20009, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
b
ADDILAN Fabricación Aditiva S.L., Eguzkitza 1, 48200, Durango, Spain
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Faculty of Engineering of Bilbao, Plaza Torres Quevedo 1, E48013, Bilbao, Spain

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: WAAM (Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing), an additive manufacturing technology with high deposition rates,
WAAM additive technology can produce metallic components, layer by layer, from different alloys, yielding high mechanical performance.
Near-net-shape manufacturing Customized AM machines with monitoring and control systems are necessary to facilitate automated manufac­
Metal spare parts management
ture of different types of components through WAAM technology. In this paper, a methodology for the validation
Machines and control
of additive manufacturing is presented as an alternative to industrial machining, for the manufacture of medium-
Metal alloys
sized aeronautical parts. To begin with, the most appropriate welding technology and adequate parameters for
four different metal alloys are selected. Successively, a characterization wall is manufactured with each of the
four metal alloys, for metallographic and mechanical characterization, concluding that the material deposited
utilizing the WAAM process is adequate for the fabrication of medium-sized aeronautical parts. Consecutively,
machine paths are defined under conditions that consume the least possible amount of material for the
manufacturing of the aeronautical part. Several aspects -manufacturing times, deposition rate, material efficiency
ratio- of each component are then analyzed, relating them to the properties obtained in each alloy. The
manufacturing process is supervised and controlled by online monitoring. The novelty of this paper consists in
establishing unique dataset for each component that is defined as a unique additive manufacturing Fingerprint as
baseline for in process defect detection. Finally, the unique contribution of stablishing a matrix-strategy for the
manufacture of multiple parts with the same tooling to optimize the use of resources is presented.

1. Introduction
In conventional production techniques, the customized manufacture
of highly complex parts is limited on account of their high costs. Over
recent years, Additive Manufacturing (AM) of geometrically complex
components has provoked intense interest within various industrial
sectors. Unlike subtractive manufacturing methodologies, this technol­
ogy joins materials, layer by layer, to produce a physical object from an
initial 3D model [1]. AM prototypes began to appear in the 1980s [2]
and there are now various AM technologies that consume low amounts
of feedstock for the manufacture of parts from a wide variety of mate­
rials, including polymers, metals, ceramics, etc. [3].
WAAM technology dates back to 1925 when Baker [4] first proposed
the use of an electric arc as a heat source to melt wire material for the
production of decorative items. Since its earliest days, the technology
has evolved, especially over the last fifteen years, to become what is
today known as WAAM. It is now a manufacturing process of special
interest, given that near-net-shape parts of virtually unlimited size may
be manufactured with this technique in a wide variety of materials, such
as steel, aluminum, nickel alloys, and titanium, among others [5].
Alongside other additive manufacturing processes, its main advantages
include high deposition rates (1− 10 kg / h, depending on the material
and the process [6]), low-cost equipment and materials, a variety of
equipment suppliers, and an environmentally friendly process [7]. In
contrast, the poor surface finish of the WAAM process, which will nor­
mally require post-AM machining operations is one of its main disad­
vantages [8].
The WAAM system is composed of a kinematic platform, a power
source, an automatic wire-feeding system and some accessories, such as
monitoring and control systems [9]. Basically, the power source in this

* Corresponding author at: Paseo Mikeletegi 7, 20009, San Sebastián, Spain.

E-mail address: eider.aldalur@tecnalia.com (E. Aldalur).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2021.01.012
Received 9 November 2020; Received in revised form 22 December 2020; Accepted 9 January 2021
Available online 29 January 2021
1526-6125/© 2021 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A. Suárez et al.
process creates an electric arc between the welding torch and the sub­
strate that melts the wire fed through the wire feeder. The kinematic
platform, generally a Gantry machine, then deposits this molten mate­
rial with great precision in each layer to produce the desired geometric
shape [10].
Three types of WAAM processes may be distinguished depending on
the type of the energy source: 1) Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW); 2) Gas
Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW); and, 3) Plasma Arc Welding (PAW)
[11]. As shown in Fig. 1, in simple terms, the GMAW process employs
coaxial wire feeding. In contrast, the GTAW and PAW processes have a
non-coaxial wire-feeding system and a non-consumable tungsten elec­
trode [12]. The main advantage of the GMAW-based WAAM process is
its deposition rate, which is 2–3 times higher than those obtained
through PAW. However, the GMAW process is less stable, since the
electric current acts directly on the raw material. This characteristic can
lead to spattering and excessive heating, which will worsen the me­
chanical properties of the deposited materials.
In the WAAM process, the thermal cycles within both the solidified
metal and the substrate caused by the layer-by-layer additions with an
electric arc mean that cooling times between passes are necessary to cool
down the part under manufacture [13]. In accordance with the thermal
input of each pass, a specific inter-pass cooling time will be required, so
that the component will not collapse and the effect of any heat accu­
mulation will be minimal [14]. This time period will also affect the total
manufacturing time consisting of adding time, cooling time, and
movement time, and so, ultimately, overall productivity.
Recent work focused on complete process solution for WAAM pro­
cess [15], proposing strategies for part production, such as, segmenta­
tion and zoning [16], which makes the continuity of the process
impossible. In this direction, the present paper presents as a novelty, the
matrix manufacturing that allows to take advantage of the unproductive
Fig. 1. Graphic representation of: (a) GMAW process; and, (b) PAW process.
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 64 (2021) 188–197
times created due to waiting times to plan the matrix manufacture of
multiple pieces in the same tooling and maximize the productivity.
Furthermore, there are numerous researchers addressing the
importance of monitoring oriented to AM processes [17]. The results are
promising going from approaches oriented to a single problem, such as,
heat generation [18], or those oriented to the treatment of large-scale
data (big data) [19]. In this paper, as a unique contribution, process
variables from the internal machine control are linked with the general
geometry of the part. Thus, creating a unique image, Fingerprint, that
allows comparatively classifying the goodness of the process.
Finally, it should be noted that other additive manufacturing pro­
cesses have received greater attention than WAAM. Hence, despite the
significant advances of WAAM technology, which demonstrate its
immense potential to offer a complete process solution, beyond the
machine itself, the following aspects will need to be developed: CAD/
CAM, process monitoring, part verification, and productivity improve­
ment. In this paper, the production of aeronautical components will be
addressed. The principal contribution relies on a definition of a unique
fingerprinting of additive parts, as a baseline for in process defect
detection and a presentation of a matrix-manufacturing strategy to
ensure more efficient production.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experimental set-up
The development and the industrialization of WAAM metal additive
manufacturing technologies for aeronautical applications is at present a
central challenge for equipment manufacturers, turning this technology
into a competitive alternative to traditional manufacturing methods.
The main experimental configuration for this work is based on an
ADDILAN platform, shown in Fig. 2. The AM machine operates a 4-axis
printer head and a tilt table with Cartesian coordinates in an inert build
chamber. All the main process parameters and variables may be
accessed through its dedicated computer numerical control unit.
The working area of the ADDILAN V0.1 machine (see Fig. 2) is 1300
mm x 900 mm x 500 mm with a maximum weight of 300 kg, a set-up
previously used by the authors in their previous work [20]. Within
this working area a single or as many as nine aeronautical fittings may
be manufactured using the matrix-manufacturing strategy. The AM
machine can integrate different WAAM technologies, mainly PAW,
GTAW or GMAW, depending on the material and the desired metallic
properties. In this paper, the selected technologies are PAW, for
Titanium-6Al4V and Stainless-Steel-316 LSi parts, and GMAW, for
Inconel-718 and Aluminum 5356 parts. The AM machine was powered
by a Tetrix 552 AC / DC Synergic Plasma arc (EWM) welding system
supplying up to 420 A. It generates a direct plasma flow through the
plasma torch used in PAW mode and uses Titan XQ 400 AC pulse (EWM)
welding equipment in GMAW mode. The geometry of each deposited
layer is measured with a geometric laser scanner (Laser Scanner Q4
Series) located on the manufacturing head (Fig. 2). In addition, a py­
rometer (Optris CT) was also installed to monitor the temperature dur­
ing the wall manufacturing processes, for determination of the inter-pass
cooling time. Finally, a Rapidox R2100 Oxygen Analyzer was also used
to measure the oxygen level.
A key task, prior to the initiation of WAAM manufacturing and
industrialization, is the definition of the parameters required to produce
acceptable 3D parts in each material. Characterization walls are initially
produced, by joining the material, layer by layer, in order to build
geometrically and mechanically functional pieces. In these walls, suit­
able process parameters for each material are adjusted following
geometrical inspections of each layer and an analysis of the final
microstructure. In this way, a database may be generated for automatic
production of parts using different materials. Furthermore, these walls
are utilized for the extraction of the test specimens for mechanical
characterization. Once the walls have been characterized and the
A. Suárez et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 64 (2021) 188–197

Fig. 2. Utilized ADDILAN V0.1 wire arc additive manufacturing machine, the machine structure representation determining its parts and scheme of the measuring
devices installed on the torch head.

manufacturing parameters decided the final parts (aeronautical fittings)

Table 1
are manufactured in the four materials. To be clearer, the experimental
Summary of the main parameters used with each material.
system schematic diagram can be seen in the Fig. 3.
The main parameters of the process are the energy input, a function Material Wire Ref Technology Wire speed Energy [J/
[m/min] mm]
between the arc intensity and torch travel speed, and the wire feed rate.
100 % argon gas is used as a shielding gas in all the cases. Table 1 shows Ti6Al4V AWS A5.16-13 ERTI-5 PAW 7.2 988
Inconel AMS5662 GMAW 5 410
the WAAM parameters used for the processing of the different material
718
characterization walls and the aeronautical fittings used in this study. Steel SS AWS A5.9/ PAW 5.3 1088
Having selected the manufacturing parameters for each metal alloy, 316 A5.9M:2017 ER 316 L
overlapped walls (2 overlapped beads in each layer, the overlap repre­ Si
senting 65 % of the bead width) were manufactured, for the extraction of Al 5356 ANSI/AWS A5.10 ER GMAW 12 300
5356
the test specimens, to perform a full metallurgical study and to test their
mechanical properties. The dimensions of these characterization walls
were 210 mm x 100 mm x 20 mm. The test materials may be divided into electronic universal material testing machine. An electromechanical
four materials: Ti6Al4V, Inconel 718, Stainless Steel 316 LSi and controlled Instron 5500R machine was used for uniaxial tensile testing
Aluminum 5356. Tensile specimens, following ISO 6892-1:2016, were with a strain rate of 1 mm/min and a load cell of 100 kN.
extracted both in a horizontal and a vertical direction, to evaluate the
mechanical properties in the direction of deposition and growth. Tensile
tests were executed, at room temperature using an Instron 5500

Fig. 3. The experimental system schematic diagram.

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3. Results and discussion
The experimental test results presented below will be divided into 4
groups: (i) A metallographic and mechanical characterization of the
different materials from the characterization walls; (ii) A review of the
manufacturing steps of the aeronautical part, from the redesign of the
part to its final machining; (iii) The definition of the unique fingerprint
of the additive part from which the unitary part may be identified from
the process parameters, and, finally; (iv) The presentation of the matrix-
manufacturing strategy oriented towards green manufacturing.
3.1. Workpiece microstructure and mechanical properties
characterization
In additive manufacturing, the presence of such defects as lack of
fusion, pores and fractures, which will depend on the process parame­
ters, are all well documented in the literature [13]. Nevertheless, the
metallurgical integrity of all the samples under analysis was acceptable
in this study. Fig. 4 shows the typical spaced lines throughout the 2-bead
overlapped walls (overlap distance is 65 % of the bead width), created
by successive thermal cycles caused by layer-by-layer manufacture,
inherent to the WAAM manufacturing processes [21]. At a macroscopic
level, the epitaxial formation of large columnar grains within the
Ti6Al4V samples can be appreciated in the direction of layer growth.
Fig. 5 shows the microstructure of the different materials obtained
with the WAAM process. The presence of a Widmanstätten α structure
separated by prior β-grain boundary can be observed in the Ti6Al4V
microstructure. Similar microstructural results from the analysis of
Ti6Al4V deposition in WAAM processes may also be found in other
works [22,23]. In contrast, a columnar dendritic structure with Laves
phases was observed in Inconel 718 [24], growing from the bottom to
the top of the layers, due to higher thermal gradients in that direction
was reported by Seow et al. [25]. A remarkable feature of the micro­
structure of SS 316 steel is the δ-ferrite structure within the austenite
matrix, similar to the results shown by Wang et al. [26] and Queguineur
et al. [27]. This δ-ferrite structure formation is dependent on the thermal
history of the component. Finally, the presence of microscopic pores,
with dimensions less than 200 μm, were appreciated in the aluminum
microstructure. As reported in the literature [8,27,28], these pores are
common when manufacturing aluminum parts using arc-welding tech­
nologies. The aluminum microstructure is mainly composed of fine
equiaxed grains with non-uniform characteristics [30].
Table 2 shows the average results of the mechanical tests on the walls
built with different materials, with no heat treatment. The results of the
tensile tests of the specimens at room temperature and their curves are
Fig. 4. Macrostructure of the Ti6Al4V wall.
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 64 (2021) 188–197
presented in Fig. 6. The results show a slightly worse mechanical
behavior of the material along the vertical direction, reflecting the
anisotropic nature of AM materials. Subsequent heat treatment or other
mechanical treatments can be used to homogenize and improve these
values [31,32].
From a comparison between the results of the WAAM specimens and
the samples of the same alloys obtained with conventional methods,
added to other references from the literature [26,29,33,34], it may be
said that the parameters defined for WAAM manufacturing meet the
aeronautical standards for these materials. Fig. 7 shows the results of the
tensile tests performed at room temperature on the rough materials in
comparison with the values from the standards and some reference
papers.
3.2. Near-net-shape (NNS) fabrication of an aeronautic fitting
The manufacture of an aeronautical fitting was performed, in order
to analyze the feasibility of WAAM as a manufacturing technology in this
case study. In Fig. 8, the steps for its manufacture from the CAD part to
the final part are defined. The fitting was firstly redesigned, to address
the key dimensional features. The parts were then manufactured with
different materials using previously tested parameters for WAAM addi­
tive technology. Finally, the additive manufacturing part was milled to
the key dimensions of the final fitting geometry.
The redesign of the part is shown below, in Fig. 9, with the original
design on the left. The key feature dimension is the area (blue colored on
the right CAD part) where the holes are placed and the substrate has
been integrated as part of the final fitting. Extra-material necessary for
the finishing of the WAAM manufactured part is also represented in the
CAD part to the far right. The total cubic volume of the deposition to
form the part was 440 cm3.
Once the CAD design of the raw part is ready for WAAM, the machine
or CAM programming is performed. The tool-path planning for additive
manufacturing processes is a topic widely reviewed in the literature
[35]. ISO language was used for the programming and the process pa­
rameters related to each alloy were fed into the CNC of the machine.
The same machine hardware was used to manufacture the metal
alloys: in this case, Titanium, Inconel 718, Stainless Steel, and
Aluminum. The geometry of this aeronautical fitting is an example of the
medium-sized components that are used in the aeronautical industry. All
four materials are viable, depending on the criticality of the parts and
the required mechanical properties. To change the material, the wire
was replaced and the same program was applied using the parameters of
each alloy. The machine will process this information to adjust dynamic
parameters (feed rates), geometric parameters (layer growth and over­
lap distance), and fusion parameters (intensity and amount of material).
Fig. 10 shows the rough part manufactured on the different materials by
WAAM manufacturing.
A geometric analysis of the part, using online scanning measure­
ments, determined the quantity of material to be removed by machining,
so as to obtain the final part. Fig. 11 shows the point-cloud measured
from the different profiles along the deposition direction for the Ti6Al4V
test part. The profiles showing the minimum and maximum envelop­
ment of the point-cloud are highlighted. At the top of the profile, the two
overlapped parabola shapes reflect the growth of the two beads. The
average value of this measured point-cloud is also graphed (in black).
The minimum envelopment was used to determine the wall that can be
inscribed into the manufactured part. The wall has been placed and
compared to the added wall, to obtain the objective key featured di­
mensions (width wOBJ = 14 mm and height hOBJ = 116 mm). The sim­
ilarity between the deposited material geometry and the final part
geometry was very high, at over 90 %, which implies that little material
(about 8%) will be lost in the final machining, demonstrating that
WAAM technology is an effective alternative in terms of material use.
As previously mentioned, the WAAM technique is highly competitive
in terms of material savings compared to conventional subtractive
A. Suárez et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 64 (2021) 188–197

Fig. 5. Microstructural analysis of the four metals used for WAAM manufactured parts.

techniques. Traditional subtractive techniques originate from a solid

Table 2
block that is machined until the desired part is obtained. In Table 3, the
Mechanical results of different materials.
start volumes and the machined volumes can be seen in both technol­
Material Ultimate Tensile Yield Stress Elongation Hardness ogies. In this case study, specifically, using WAAM technology the ma­
Stress (MPa) (MPa) (%) [HV]
terial saving percentage is 71 %. Similar results were achieved by
HD VD HD VD HD VD Williams et al. in their research work on the external landing gear of an
Ti6Al4V 992 ± 931 ± 924 ± 870 ± 11 16 300 ± 6 aircraft manufactured with WAAM [12]. Regarding the buy-to-fly ratio,
38 15 22 19 ±1 ±2 in the WAAM process, as mentioned by the aforementioned authors,
Inconel 850 ± 790 ± 549 ± 472 ± 20 19 250 ± 4 buy-to-fly ratios of less than 1.5 can be achieved, while maintaining
718 7 7 10 4 ±1 ±1
Steel SS 586 ± 539 ± 384 ± 342 ± 40 56 241 ± 4
acceptable deposition rates. In this case study, the buy-to-fly ratios of the
316 9 9 19 9 ±4 ±6 WAAM process were 1.13, lower than those of the traditional subtractive
Al 5356 278 ± 264 ± 115 ± 108 ± 33 30 154 ± 2 techniques, at 3.64.
3 1 5 2 ±2 ±5 During the additive manufacturing process of aeronautical fittings in
different materials, Table 4 shows the summary of the total process
times, divided into: (i) additive time or the time in which the generator
has been active and the material has been deposited; (ii) cooling time or
the time that the torch has been inoperative, waiting for the wall surface
to drop to the objective temperature value that guarantees the correct
growth of the wall in the next layer; and, finally, (iii) positioning time
which constitutes the sum of time consumed in the movement between
the different starting positions. These times are well-defined in previous
literature, for example, by Montevecchi et al. [14]. In this case, these
times have been obtained from the internal signals of the machine
starting in the moment that the welding arc ignites.
The deposition ratio considering only the material deposition time
(additive time), eliminating positioning movements and cooling times,
varied depending on the deposited material. Steel was the material with
the highest deposition rate (2.3 kg/h), followed by Inconel (2.28 kg/h),
titanium (1.58 kg/h), and finally aluminum (1 kg/h), due to its low
density. Furthermore, due to its high thermal conductivity and diffu­
sivity, the cooling times for WAAM manufacturing appeared lower in the
case of aluminum. The differences observed in positioning time were
Fig. 6. Strain-stress curves for Vertical Direction (VD) and Horizontal Direction
due to the differences in the growth per layer of each material, which
(HD) samples of the four materials. required a greater number of layers, for example, in INCO718, to com­
plete the final target geometry.

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Fig. 7. Comparison of the mechanical property values (UTS, YS and elonga­
tion) obtained from the specimens manufactured using WAAM in the four
materials and values of the mechanical properties of the same materials
established in the standards.
Fig. 8. WAAM manufacturing sequence.
3.3. Fingerprint definition oriented to additive manufacturing parts
The conditions during the additive manufacturing process were
recorded for each workpiece to have information of the manufactured
part and check errors. Furthermore, to minimize the problems in the
deposition process the closed loop height control system is installed to
maintain a constant distance between the welding torch and the last
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 64 (2021) 188–197
layer surface. For this, a correction on the z value of the machine-torch is
introduced according to the acquired welding parameters (current and
voltage). The recorded data consisted of the instantaneous position (X, Y
and Z coordinates of the torch in mm), instant wire feed speed (m / min),
voltage (V), current (A), travel speed (mm / s), temperature (ºC) and
energy (J/mm) (by multiplying intensity and voltage between travel
speed). This representation of the key feature values during the WAAM
process establishes a unitary image of the nature of each piece that is, in
fact, a unique fingerprint of the part [36]. It establishes a clear advan­
tage of AM over conventional manufacturing, in so far as the properties
of any one part can be identified and full geometric traceability can be
established. Fig. 12 shows, as an example, the three-dimensional image
representative of the deposition energy during the manufacture of the
aeronautical fitting manufactured in Ti6Al4V.
If one of the additive layers is selected, then its recorded data shown
as the torch path will be displayed, including variable-time graphs both
on the odd and on the even layers of the deposited profiles. An energy
consumption map showing the values applied at each torch head posi­
tion and idle trajectory of the torch during the positioning phase can be
seen in Fig. 13. It is important to remember that this system allows
analytics for a comparison of each layer, to diagnose non-homogenous
process parameters.
The opportunity to identify defects and variables at preliminary
stages, through the data acquired on-line, through Artificial Intelligence
(AI) analysis techniques, is a safeguard against failure propagation. This
aspect will be studied in future works. Parameters such as intensity,
voltage, travel speed, etc. in WAAM technology are easy to monitor and
clear correlations can be appreciated between the captured signals and
the real defects of the part. It provides a means of preventing defect
propagation through early actions, moving towards zero-defect
manufacturing strategies in which, as Eger et al. declared, the “ulti­
mate goal is to reduce the system operational costs and materials wasted
in scraps, thus increasing the competitiveness and sustainability of Eu­
ropean companies in the global market” [37].
Finally, the possibility of visualizing the evolution of the amount of
oxygen in the build chamber was added. Fig. 14 shows the temporary
value of the oxygen level, in the manufacture of the Ti6Al4V parts, a
value of less than 100 ppm during the entire manufacturing process was
set as a requirement, to ensure the full integrity of the part. It should be
noted that the emptying time of the build chamber was very slightly over
thirty minutes.
Comparison of fingerprints associated with the same type of part
series can in turn assist predictive machine maintenance. Whether at the
generator level or the error analysis of the machine axis, the machine
provides continuous real-time information on the status.
3.4. Matrix-manufacturing strategy for aeronautic parts
One way to optimize the process and to minimize the manufacturing
time of the parts is the matrix-manufacturing strategy. In recent years,
this technique has been widely used in Power Bed Fusion (PBF) tech­
nology [38,39], although it has attracted little attention in WAAM
technology. The main objective of this strategy is to achieve a “qua­
si”-continuous automatic manufacturing process, reducing the produc­
tion time of each part to a minimum.
The matrix-manufacturing strategy makes it possible to manufacture
parts with shorter total production times, because as one part is cooling
down after the deposition of a layer, the same layer of the subsequent
part is added, as can be seen in video 1. In this way, the idle times that
are considered as the sum of the cooling times plus the empty movement
(positioning) times are reduced as much as possible. This idle time
consists of both energy and resource consumption which decrease the
overall ecological performance of WAAM technology. In addition, if an
inert atmosphere is required, only one filling of the build chamber would
be necessary for the matrix-part, with the consequent saving in energy
and gas consumption.
A. Suárez et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 64 (2021) 188–197

Fig. 9. Redesign of Aeronautical Hardware for WAAM.

Fig. 10. Aeronautic fitting manufactured by WAAM.

Table 3
Subtractive techniques and WAAM technology comparison in term of material
savings.
Raw solid Added Substrate Machined Buy
block material material material to fly
volume volume (cm3) volume ratio
(cm3) (cm3) (cm3)

Subtractive 2200 – – 1640 3.64

technique
WAAM – 440 196 76 1.13

Fig. 15 shows three aeronautical fittings manufactured using the

Fig. 11. Calculation of the objective cross-sectional area of the Ti6Al4V
WAAM wall.
matrix-manufacturing strategy in Stainless Steel 316. The three parts
were simultaneously manufactured, reducing resource consumption and
increasing productivity.
Furthermore, matrix-manufacturing strategy is a clear example
where the aforementioned unique fingerprint can be useful. A three-

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Table 4 periods. In the matrix-manufacturing strategy, as one part is cooling

Manufacturing times for each of the parts in the different materials. down, the additive manufacture of other part continues, reducing the
Additive Time Cooling Time Positioning Time cooling time to zero. The following graph (Fig. 17) shows the time
savings of the matrix-strategy that takes advantage of the cooling time,
Titanium 1h 17min 1h 5min 0h 28min
Stainless Steel 1h 35min 1h 2min 0h 31min to continue with the additive layering of the three fittings, thereby
Inconel 718 1h 25 min 1h 39min 0h 33min increasing the productivity of the AM machine [41]. It is worth noting
Aluminum 0h 40min 0h 46min 0h 19min that the accumulated time of emptying the build chamber is not shown
in this graph. If this time is taken into account, the time savings of the
matrix-strategy will be even greater, as with traditional WAAM
methods, the emptying time must be added to the manufacturing time of
each part, while in the matrix-strategy this time is divided by the
number of parts that are manufactured.
The example of matrix-manufacturing shown in this paper allows us
to give a clear vision of the improvement that this strategy can bring to
the sustainability of the process. Furthermore, the results could be
extrapolated to the other materials by means of calculating positioning
times in the CAM software and taking into account the suppression of
the cooling time. Both cooling and positioning times are considered part
of the idle time. Table 6 summarizes the results that could be obtained

Fig. 12. Graph of the monitored energy of the 3-dimensional geometry of the
manufactured part.

dimensional image representative of the deposition energy during the

matrix-manufacture of the aeronautical fittings in steel is shown in
Fig. 16. With this type of image, any defects that may for example appear
during the matrix-manufacturing, could be located using image treat­
ment techniques [40].
Table 5 summarizes the overall production times of the matrix-
manufacturing of the three aeronautical fittings at the same fixturing
table.
The above example provides a clear idea of the advantages of this Fig. 14. Oxygen level in the working environment during WAAM
technology for manufacturing metallic parts over very short time manufacturing of the Ti6Al4V part.

Fig. 13. 2-D Representation of the energy and torch path and energy-time representation during two consecutive layers manufacturing Titanium Ti6Al4V using
WAAM technology.

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Table 6
Manufacturing time per part comparison between matrix and unitary
manufacturing.
Additive Time Idle Time Total Time Reduction

Titanium 1h 17min 1h 33min 2h 50min

Matrix Ti6Al4V 1h 17min 0h 47min* 2h 04min 27 %
Stainless Steel 1h 35min 1h 33min 3h 08min
Matrix SS 1h 35min 0h 51 min 2h 26min 22 %
Inconel 718 1h 25 min 2h 12min 3h 37min
Matrix INCO718 1h 25 min 0h 56min* 2h 21min 35 %
Aluminum 0h 40min 1h 05min 1h 45min
Matrix Al5356 0h 40min 0h 30min* 1h 12min 31 %
*
Extrapolated values.

strategy and ranges between 22–35 % for stainless steel and INCO718,
respectively. These data reflect the improvement observed in the com­
Fig. 15. Example of matrix-manufacturing in Stainless Steel 316 using parison of the three-part matrix-manufacturing in one bundle and the
PAW-WAAM.
conventional additive manufacturing. This data might vary, showing
proportional increases with the increase of pieces per matrix.

4. Conclusions

An energy-efficient net-near-shape strategy approach to the additive

process (WAAM) has been presented in this paper. This methodology
combines the full integrated process parameters used to obtain part-
oriented and matrix-manufacturing strategies for the maximization of
productivity. The manufactured part approaches a buy-to-fly ratio of
1.13, which allows a material saving of 71 % with respect to the
manufacturing of the aeronautical fitting by traditional methods starting
with an ingot. Therefore, optimizing the necessary material validates
additive technology (WAAM) as a promising alternative and sustainable
manufacturing method in terms of resource utilization. Other conclu­
sions extracted from this work are:

Fig. 16. Fingerprint of WAAM manufacturing parts in matrix- ● Suitable deposition parameters have been defined for four materials
manufacturing strategy. of very diverse nature. Both the microstructures under analysis and
the tensile tests identified values are similar to those previously
specified in the literature.
Table 5 ● The parameters have been applied to the manufacturing of near-net-
Manufacturing time of the three steel parts using matrix-manufacturing strategy. shape aluminum, stainless steel, titanium and Inconel parts of an
Additive Time Cooling Time Positioning time aeronautical fitting. AM reduces the total volume of material that is
needed in comparison with conventional techniques.
Matrix- manufac. 4 h 43min 0 min 2h 33min
● A monitoring methodology has been developed to obtain the unique
fingerprint of the part, which establishes a unique map of the process
variables in the piece. Full traceability of the part can be achieved
avoiding the propagation of defects at later stages of manufacture
and even establishing correlations with the part in use.
● Lastly, the matrix-manufacturing strategy is proposed as a more
efficient alternative use of the AM machine in the production of this
type of part. This strategy increases productivity by around 25 %
and, in turn, makes more reasonable use of resources, reducing the
number of phases of emptying the build chamber, the idling time,
and substrate fixturing.

Funding

Fig. 17. Summary of WAAM part manufacturing times.
through the use of the matrix-strategy for three-at-a-time production of
aeronautical fittings. In this table, the asterisk means that the values
marked are extrapolated.
The reduction in time is considerable through the use of a matrix-
The authors are grateful to the Basque Government for funding the
HARIPLUS project, HAZITEK 2019 program [ZE-2019/00352], and
QUALYFAM project [kk-2020/00042] awarded by the vice-counseling
of technology, innovation and competitiveness of the Basque Govern­
ment. In addition, also the authors acknowledge the European com­
missionthrough the EiT Manufacturing program of the DEDALUS project
[reference ID 20094].

196
A. Suárez et al.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Alfredo Suárez: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation,
Investigation, Resources, Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Proj­
ect administration, Funding acquisition. Eider Aldalur: Methodology,
Software, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - orig­
inal draft. Fernando Veiga: Conceptualization, Software, Formal anal­
ysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing - original draft,
Visualization. Teresa Artaza: Methodology, Software. Iván Tabernero:
Validation, Writing - review & editing. Aitzol Lamikiz: Validation,
Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary material related to this article can be found, in the
online version, at doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2021.01.012.
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