Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101247

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Engineering Science and Technology,

an International Journal
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jestch

Bending fatigue properties of structural steel fabricated through wire arc

additive manufacturing (WAAM)
Yusuf Ayan ⇑, Nizamettin Kahraman
Karabuk University Technology Faculty Manufacturing Engineering, Demir Çelik Kampüsü, Karabük 78050, Türkiye

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) has become an essential production method with advantages
Received 17 March 2022 such as ease of application and economic benefits, along with high material savings and its ability to pro-
Revised 9 August 2022 duce large parts close to their final form in a short time. In recent years, many studies have been carried
Accepted 29 August 2022
out on WAAM, most of which have investigated the properties of the manufactured parts. Among these
Available online 11 September 2022
properties, the topic of fatigue was less frequently examined. The reasons for this may include difficulties
such as the long duration of fatigue tests and the large number of test specimens required. However, since
Keywords:
fatigue is responsible for most of the damage in metal components, it is important to determine the fati-
WAAM
Fatigue
gue strength of the parts produced using WAAM. In this study, the WAAM process was applied to low
ER70S-6 alloy ER70S-6 steel, which is widely used in the metal industry and is also one of the most common mate-
Tensile test rials used in WAAM processes. After the fabrication, horizontal and vertical specimens were obtained
Low carbon steel from the manufactured part and mechanical and metallurgical tests were applied, including, fatigue tests,
with the fatigue properties of the produced WAAMed part determined using a specially designed and pro-
duced bending stress fatigue testing machine. Results demonstrated that the fatigue limits of the hori-
zontal and vertical fatigue specimens at 107 cycles were very close to each other, as approximately
180 MPa. The fatigue strength values of the vertical and horizontal specimens were quite similar.
However, the fatigue strength of the vertical specimens up to 106 cycles was found to be slightly higher.
Ó 2022 Karabuk University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
In recent years, additive manufacturing (AM) has emerged as a
critical manufacturing method because of such advantages as
enabling the fabrication of complex-shaped parts and reducing
the cost, time, and energy consumption [1]. This technique can
be used in many fields, ranging from the production of polymer
objects for hobby purposes in the home environment to the pro-
duction of special medical metal implants to be used in the human
body. In addition to the machine-metal industry, the need for
metallic materials is essential in almost all industrial fields because
metal parts make up the components of most fabrication systems.
Considering this situation, the production of metal materials via
the AM method has gained even more importance. Many different
manufacturing methods have been developed for the AM of metal
parts [2]. Among them, the wire arc additive manufacturing
(WAAM) technique is superior, especially in the fabrication of
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yusufayan@karabuk.edu.tr (Y. Ayan).
Peer review under responsibility of Karabuk University.
large-scale metal components [3]. Today, the interest in this tech-
nique has increased considerably and it has been included in many
research and development activities.
Many works have studied different topics pertaining to the
WAAM process. Especially in the last three years, the number of
studies on this subject has significantly increased. Rodrigues
et al. [4] fabricated a steel-copper functionally graded material
(FGM) via WAAM and obtained a defect-free interface having high
strength and ductility. Studies have also been conducted on the
WAAM processing of non-traditional materials. Ke et al. [5] inves-
tigated the fluid flow behavior and mass transfer characteristics in
the fabrication of a shape-memory NiTi alloy using WAAM. In addi-
tion to investigating the ability to fabricate various material types
with the method, most of these studies have focused on material
characterization. Jin et al. [6] performed a comprehensive review
of the WAAM processing of different stainless steels, including
their microstructure, mechanical properties, and process-related
defects. The study serves as a guide for WAAMed parts produced
using similar materials. Rodriges et al. [7] reported the superior
properties of austenitic stainless steels and conducted an extensive
study characterizing the heat treatment effects applied to 316L

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2022.101247
2215-0986/Ó 2022 Karabuk University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Y. Ayan and N. Kahraman
steel produced via WAAM. The findings of their study provide a
useful guide for the heat treatment of austenitic stainless steel
AM parts using different parameters. Parts fabricated by WAAM
are commonly subjected to the milling process. Lopes et al. [8]
investigated the effects of the milling parameters of HSLA steel
manufactured via WAAM. They found that the mechanical behav-
ior of the produced WAAM part had no significant effect on the
milling process. In addition, they also emphasized that it would
be beneficial to develop new strategies to reduce the tool wear
caused by milling AM parts. Moreover, many studies have been
carried out to eliminate the adverse effects of WAAM fabrication.
Dimensional inconsistency, microstructure problems, distortion,
and residual stresses can be some of these [9]. Ramalho et al.
[10] carried out a study to determine the effects of pollution on
parts produced with WAAM by applying acoustic spectral analysis
and were able to identify the location of the intentionally placed
contamination and the instabilities of the process. A review of
the studies on WAAM in the literature reveals that although differ-
ent experiments have characterized many material properties, lim-
ited research has been performed on the fatigue strength of
WAAMed parts. The limited number of these studies may possibly
be attributed to the long duration of fatigue tests and the necessity
of performing a great number of tests to determine the fatigue
limit. For example, determining the fatigue strength corresponding
to the fatigue life level of a part for 107 cycles at a fatigue speed of
10 Hz may take approximately 12 days. In addition, disruptions
such as power cuts during the long-time test may cause the test
to be cancelled and repeated, further extending the test times.
However, when performing a task according to the service condi-
tions, it is necessary to know the fatigue properties of the mechan-
ical parts because most of the damage in metal parts occurs due to
fatigue [11]. In this respect, studies on determining the fatigue
properties of components produced via WAAM will be useful and
necessary for engineering works.
Even though limited in the literature studies, fatigue tests have
been applied to fabrications produced by the WAAM method. Dur-
aisamy et al. [12] performed fatigue tests in horizontal and vertical
directions on 347 stainless steel parts manufactured via WAAM
and observed the fatigue strength to be similar in both orienta-
tions. They also found that the fatigue strength of the WAAMed
part to be lower than that of its wrought alloy counterpart. Fur-
thermore, they emphasized that its mechanical properties could
be improved by performing the appropriate post-processing appli-
cations. In another study, Ermakova et al. [13] investigated the
effect of specimen orientation on the fatigue crack growth rate,
and discovered no significant change in crack propagation in the
specimen extraction region of an ER70S-6 structure produced by
WAAM. Similarly, in another work, Ermakova et al. [14] studied
the fatigue crack growth behavior of ER100S-1 steel produced via
WAAM and found that the specimen orientation affected the crack
growth shape. The service conditions of parts manufactured with
WAAM may not always involve an atmospheric environment.
Moreover, there may be conditions where it is vital to know the
fatigue strength at ambient conditions under loading. Ron et al.
[15] applied a fatigue test to ER70S-6 material produced via WAAM
in both an atmospheric environment and a corrosion environment
containing NaCl solution. Similarly, they performed the same tests
with St37 material and compared the fatigue properties of the two
materials. As a result, the ER70S-6 material produced with WAAM
in the atmospheric environment showed fatigue strength similar to
that of the St37 material. However, in the corrosion environment,
the St37 material exhibited 70 % higher fatigue strength than the
other material. They attributed this to factors such as inherited
porosity, lack of fusion, and impurities in the part produced with
WAAM that accelerated local corrosion and triggered the forma-
tion of fatigue cracks. In addition, Wang et al. [16] stated that the
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Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101247
pollution on the wire material during the material deposition with
WAAM might cause gas porosity and thus reduce fatigue strength.
In the WAAM process, different types of material deposition
strategy can be applied. For example, the material deposition could
be a single-pass wall or a block type in oscillation or overlap. These
types mainly affect the amount of heat exposure of the WAAM lay-
ers and the dimensions of the part to be produced. Although the
material thickness is limited to 10 mm in single-pass production,
larger structures can be obtained with oscillating and parallel types
[17]. Aldalur et al. [18] achieved different tensile strength results
depending on the microstructure change in the production they
applied in the form of oscillation and overlap. Higher tensile
strength with lower grain sizes was obtained using oscillating pro-
duction. In another study, Yıldız et al. [19], using ER120S-G,
obtained lower yield strength but higher ductility with
oscillating-type production compared to single pass production.
Syed et al. [17] investigated the effects of material oscillation and
parallel deposition strategies applied in WAAM on the fatigue
strength of a structure produced with Ti6Al4V. In the parallel
stacking strategy, a smaller-grained structure was obtained, and
it was stated that this increased the fatigue strength as it exhibited
more resistance to fatigue crack initiation. Wang et al. [20] applied
a fatigue test to Ti6Al4V material manufactured by WAAM and
investigated the small crack growth behavior in an in-situ SEM
chamber. Their results determined that the growth rate of
microstructural small cracks over many loading cycles depended
on the synergy and competition of the following factors. The
microstructure influences the initiation and propagation of cracks.
Permanent slip bands support the initiation and propagation of
cracks along with slip lines. Grain boundaries prevent crack prop-
agation due to the barrier effect on dislocation slip. The branching
of the cracks and the secondary cracks dissipate the energy that
enables the main crack to grow and reduce the growth rate of
the main crack.
Hybrid manufacturing processes could be applied to improve
the mechanical properties of structures produced using WAAM.
For example, in a previous study, the ultrasonic pulsed hybrid pro-
duction process was used with WAAM. In this way, a smaller-
grained structure with increased tensile strength was obtained
[21]. In a hybrid WAAM study, the microstructure was modified,
and residual stresses were reduced by rolling [22]. Xiong et al.
[23] applied a hybrid fabrication process with hammer peening.
They stated that the mechanical properties of the layer produced
via WAAM were improved, thus increasing its strength. In a study
investigating fatigue strength by applying the hybrid method,
Dirisu et al. [24] reported that the rolling application had improved
fatigue properties. They also reported that the WAAMed part pro-
duced in this way could be used directly in engineering works. The
fatigue studies on WAAM in the literature are relatively limited in
number. In addition, previous studies generally applied tensile-
compressive stress-type fatigue tests. However, WAAM metal parts
might not always be loaded in this way, so it would be necessary to
determine the fatigue behavior under different types of stress. In
this study, in the fatigue tests, the fatigue load was applied to
induce bending stress. For the WAAM processes, ER70S-6 low alloy
steel material was chosen because it is widely used in many differ-
ent sectors. It is hoped that the results obtained in the study will
make significant contributions to the literature and to metal parts
manufacturing industries.
2. Experimental studies
For the WAAM processes, the gas metal arc welding (GMAW)
method was chosen, and 1.2 mm diameter low alloy ER70S-6 steel
wire was used as the feedstock, which according to the
Y. Ayan and N. Kahraman Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101247

manufacturer’s catalogue data contains 0.07 % C, 0.90 % Si, and

1.45 % Mn as the main alloying elements by wt.; St37 steel in
dimensions of 20 mm  150 mm  400 mm was used as the sub-
strate. Before beginning the production processes, the surfaces of
the substrate material were sanded and cleaned of all rust, oil,
etc. using acetone and alcohol.
The welding parameters used in the fabrication process are
given in Table 1. A specially designed and manufactured CNC
machine was used to perform the WAAM operations. The weld
beads formed for the layered structure were achieved with the
torch following a closed path with the same starting and ending
point. Fig. 1. shows the deposition principle of the WAAM process.
The main reason for following such a procedure in production was
that each region of the weld bead on the manufactured layer had a
similar temperature distribution. In addition, the layer form would
be stabilized because the beginning and the end were at the same
point. While fabricating each layer, the previous one was cooled Fig. 1. Deposition principle of WAAM.
down to a temperature between 90 °C and 100 °C and thus, a struc-
ture having a total of 49 layers was manufactured. Different views
of the WAAMed part are shown in Fig. 2.
Hardness, tensile, and fatigue tests were applied to determine
the mechanical properties of the fabrcaited part. The microstruc-
ture was characterized in several metallurgical studies, and these
studies were supported by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning elec-
tron microscopy (SEM), and optical microscopy.
Microstructure studies were carried out on the WAAMed part as
a whole using a cross-section specimen taken from along the build-
ing direction, and the microstructures in the lower, middle, and
upper zones were examined. Standard metallographic specimen
preparation procedures were applied, and the specimens were
etched with 2 % nitric acid solution. A Nikon Epiphot 200 optical
microscope was used for microstructure analysis. The XRD test
was applied to a specimen taken from the middle zone of the part
to determine the phase structure of the WAAMed part. Hardness
measurements were taken at equal distances from the bottom to
the top of the same specimen prepared for the microstructure
studies. In addition, specimens of 30 mm in length were extracted
in the horizontal and vertical directions from the center of the
WAAMed part, and the hardness values of these specimens were
measured. Fig. 3 shows the locations of the hardness measure-
ments on the regions of the part. The hardness values of the Fig. 2. Fabricated part.
cross-section were compared with the vertical and horizontal val-
ues, and the changes in the hardness were evaluated. The Vickers
microhardness method was used, and a 500-g load was applied
for 10 s for the hardness test.
First, the milling process was applied to obtain the tensile and
fatigue test specimens from the WAAMed part. The part was
machined in equal amounts from both WAAMed surfaces to pro-
duce a sheet of approximately 2.5 mm thickness. Specimens were
then obtained via the wire electric discharge machining (EDM)
method. Fig. 4 shows the locations of the tensile and fatigue spec-
imens taken on the part and dimensions of the specimens. Tensile
tests were carried out at room temperature with a constant cross-
head speed of 2 mm/min using the AG-50 kN Shimadzu Autograph
test machine. A total of 12 test specimens, 6 vertical and 6 horizon-

Table 1
WAAM parameters.

Current A) 105–120
Fig. 3. a) Location of microhardness test specimens, b) vertical, c) horizontal, d)
Voltage (V) 17–19
cross-section along the building direction.
Wire Feed Speed (m/min) 2
Weld Speed (m/min) 0.15
Shielding Gas 86 % Ar + 12 % CO2 + 2 % O2 tal, were extracted from different zones of the WAAMed part. After
Shielding Gas Flow Rate (L/min) 15 the tensile test, the fractured surfaces were examined by SEM.

3
Y. Ayan and N. Kahraman Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101247

Fig. 4. Extraction of tensile and fatigue specimens from the WAAMed part: a)
extraction zones, b) dimensions of fatigue test specimen, c) dimensions of tensile
test specimen.

Fig. 5. Fatigue test setup: a) fatigue test machine, b) bending fatigue test procedure.

Bending fatigue tests are an essential and distinctive part of this

work. Fatigue tests were carried out with a specially designed and
manufactured machine capable of applying bending stress to the
test specimens. The fatigue stress values of the specimens were
evaluated using the loadcell on the machine. The number of fatigue
cycles was calculated by a counter on the device. Fatigue tests were
carried out using three specimens for each stress level at six differ-
ent stress amplitudes, and a total of 36 test specimens were tested
in the horizontal and vertical orientations. The average yield stress
of the WAAMed part was considered as a reference to determine
the stress levels applied in the fatigue tests. The highest stress level
closest to the yield limit was chosen, and the others were applied
at a decreasing magnitude up to half the yield strength value. The
fatigue life obtained at the applied stress amplitudes was deter-
mined by the counter on the machine, and SAN curves were cre-
ated according to these values. Up to 107 cycles, the stress value
at which fatigue fracture did not occur in the test specimen was
chosen as the fatigue limit. The experiments were carried out at
room temperature at 10 Hz fatigue speed. As in the tensile test, Fig. 6. Specimens after tensile test and stress-strain curves of the specimens: a)
the fracture surfaces of the specimens that failed in the fatigue test vertical, b) horizontal.
were also examined by SEM. The fatigue test machine and sche-
matic test procedure are shown in Fig. 5.
these values, the tensile values of the horizontal and vertical fab-
3. Results and discussion rications were close to the St37 material, with similar chemical
content.
3.1. Tensile test When the vertical and horizontal tensile test results were com-
pared, the average tensile strength and % elongation values of the
Images of the specimens after the tensile test and stress- horizontal specimens were very close to each other. This can be
strain plots are shown in Fig. 6. According to the tensile test attributed to the equal adjustment of the interlayer transition tem-
results, the average tensile stress in the vertical direction was perature for each layer and the suitability of the material deposi-
calculated as approximately 480 MPa, and the average maximum tion strategy. In terms of tensile properties, relative homogeneity
elongation as 22.5 %. One of the horizontal test specimens failed can be achieved when closed-path production is applied in WAAM
the tensile test due to a defect thought to be a micro-void for- processes. Although this was the case, the horizontal tensile test
mation in the structure. Since the test results of the other five values were slightly higher. This difference in the tensile values
specimens were close, the defective specimen was not included of the specimens in the horizontal and vertical directions was
in the average values. The average maximum tensile strength thought to have been caused by the changes in the microstructure.
and maximum % elongation values of the specimens in the hor- A similar inference was reported in another WAAM study per-
izontal direction were calculated as approximately 491 MPa and formed with the same material [26]. In addition, in some studies
24.62 %, respectively. The reference values of the St37 material with ER70S-6 wire material, it was stated that the tensile strength
show the tensile strength as an average of 435 MPa and the % of the horizontal specimens was slightly higher than in the vertical
elongation as  21 % for 2.5 mm thickness [25]. According to ones [3,27].

4
Y. Ayan and N. Kahraman
Different tensile test results can be seen in the literature studies
using ER70S-6 wire, e.g., the tensile strength obtained in the hori-
zontal direction varied greatly between 429 ± 8 MPa [26] and
503 ± 21 MPa [28]. Regardless of the orientation on the manufac-
tured part, the values for tensile strength generally varied between
approximately 470 and 500 MPa [3,18,28,29] Similarly, the elonga-
tion values were calculated as 12 ± 3 % vertically and 35 ± 2 % hor-
izontally in one study [28], whereas they were found to be 38 ± 2.
6 % vertically and 36 ± 2.2 % horizontally in another study [18].
Considering these, the average tensile strength values of the
WAAMed parts were similar to those in the literature. However,
there was some difference in elongation, mainly attributed to the
manufacturing parameters and material deposition strategy. Mate-
rial deposition included single-bead multi-layer, overlap-bead
multi-layer, and oscillating multi-layer types, as reported in the
work of Le and Paris [26]. When the other fabrication conditions
are kept the same, the microstructure may contain differences
according to these material deposition production types. These dif-
ferences primarily result from the effects of the amount of heat to
which the layers are exposed. For this reason, WAAMed parts can
have different tensile strength and elongation values depending
on the material deposition strategy. In the study carried out by
Aldalur et al., two different fabrication procedures, oscillating
and overlapping, were applied, and the microstructure was found
to be entirely different in the two structures. Higher tensile
strength with smaller grain sizes was obtained by the overlapping
production [18].
The fracture surface examined by SEM after the tensile test is
shown in Fig. 7. In each orientation, two different magnification
images of the specimen fracture surfaces are given (2000X magni-
fication on the left and 5000X magnification on the right). A mag-
nification of 10,000X was applied to the images taken with EDS.
The fracture surfaces of the vertical specimens show the pres-
ence of dimples of different sizes and shear fracture dimples
[30]. In the horizontal specimen, the dimples are more concen-
trated. The formation of dense dimples indicated that the ductility
of the horizontal specimen was slightly higher than that of the ver-
tical. On the other hand, the specimens in both orientations exhib-
ited ductile fracture behavior. Inclusions, large in number and
Fig. 7. a) Vertical and b) horizontal fracture surfaces of the tensile test specimens, c)
2x magnification of red square in a) and EDS results. (For interpretation of the
references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of
this article.)
5
Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101247
varying in size, were observed in these specimens. In the fracture
surface examinations, the inclusion distribution was observed to
vary regionally, but was concentrated in the main regions where
the fractures occurred.
The EDS results applied to inclusions in the vertical specimen
are shown. Measurement number 1 was applied to the main mate-
rial and the others to the spherical inclusions. When the EDS
results of the inclusions were assessed, the Mn content by weight
was high. Therefore, the spherical particles could be interpreted as
belonging to a Mn-based compound. In the literature studies, sim-
ilar spherical particles were encountered and identified as MnO
(manganese oxide) [31–33]. This MnO can be formed as a result
of the oxidizing potential of the shielding gas and the high heat
input and rapid cooling in the WAAM process [24].
The spherical particles found on the fractured surfaces shown in
Fig. 7c are located in the center of the voids around them. These
particles, thought to be MnO, were frequently found in the frac-
tured surface examinations. In addition, their number was rela-
tively high in the fractured zones, which supports the possibility
that these factors had triggered and accelerated the fracture pro-
cess during the tensile test.
It was concluded that the voids around the spherical parts had
caused a narrowing of the cross-section and therefore, reduced the
load level that could be resisted during tensile testing and thus,
had the effect of reducing the tensile strength. Similarly, it has
been reported that MnO inclusions may negatively affect the ten-
sile strength by reducing the active load area [32], showing that
this situation was supported by the literature.
3.2. Fatigue test
Fig. 8 shows the graph created with the data obtained from the
fatigue test results. The specimens fractured after the fatigue test
are shown in Fig. 9. The highest average stress applied in the fati-
gue test of the vertical specimens was calculated as approximately
350 MPa, and the fatigue life was about 7.5103 in response to this
stress level. This value is included in the low-cycle fatigue region.
The third stress amplitude group test results, corresponding to
approximately 280 MPa, demonstrated that the highest fatigue
stress was reduced by about 20 %, the high-cycle fatigue zone
was exceeded, and approximately 1.3105 cycles were reached.
From the vertical fatigue specimen test results, the fatigue life of
106 was achieved at 245 MPa, and 106 fatigue life was exceeded
at the stress value of 220 MPa; 107 fatigue cycles were reached
Fig. 8. Fatigue test graphs: a) vertical, b) horizontal, c) average curves.
Y. Ayan and N. Kahraman
Fig. 9. Specimens after fatigue test: a) vertical, b) horizontal.
at a stress value of 178 MPa, and the test was terminated because
no macro error or fatigue fracture was observed. According to these
results, the fatigue limit of the vertical specimens was approxi-
mately 178 MPa.
The fatigue test results of the horizontal specimens, corre-
sponding to 350 MPa, demonstrated that the fatigue life was
approximately 6.5103 in the low-cycle fatigue region. Compared
to the vertical specimens, a slight decrease in fatigue life was
observed at the highest applied stress. However, this situation
was negligible since it took place in the low-cycle region. In the
horizontal specimens, the high-cycle fatigue region was reached
with a stress amplitude of 276 MPa and approximately 4.2106
cycles were reached at an average stress amplitude of 244 MPa.
At an average stress of 176 MPa applied to the horizontal speci-
mens, 107 cycles were reached and the test was stopped because
there was no fatigue damage. The fatigue limit for the horizontal
test group was 176 MPa.
The fatigue graph in Fig. 8c shows that the average fatigue curve
of the vertical specimens was slightly higher than for the horizon-
tal one until the 106 fatigue life. However, when both the graphics
and the data of both test groups were examined, no significant dif-
ference could be observed between them. Especially on the side
where the fatigue life approached 106 cycles, the curves inter-
sected and overlapped towards 107 cycles. It was concluded that
the fatigue limit in the vertical and horizontal orientations within
the applied WAAM fabrication parameters was at approximately
the same stress amplitude.
Bartsch et al. applied a fatigue test to an ER70S-6 material struc-
ture manufactured via the WAAM process and when approxi-
mately 3.6106 cycles had been reached at a stress amplitude of
190 MPa, the test was stopped [34]. These literature results were
very close to the fatigue test results of the WAAMed part fabricated
in this study (180 MPa and 107 cycles). In another study, Ron et al.
applied a fatigue test at 50 Hz to ER70S-6 specimens produced by
WAAM and specimens obtained from St37 material. They found
the fatigue limit of the ER70S-6 structure as 220 MPa at 108 cycles
and the fatigue strength of St37 as 230 MPa at the same cycles [15].
Compared to this study, there is a difference in fatigue strength of
40 MPa. This difference was assumed to have been caused by the
fatigue test speed (frequency) applied in the experiments, which
was five times greater. Guennec et al. investigated the effects of
the fatigue test speed in low carbon steel and found that fatigue
strength tended to increase with increasing test speed [35]. In a
study by Zainulabdeen [36], the fatigue strength of St37 material
was found to be 160 MPa at 106 cycles. According to these values,
the fatigue strength of the structure produced via WAAM was not
below that of the St37 material.
The fractured surfaces of the fatigue specimens are shown in
Fig. 10. At first glance, the fracture surface images of the vertical
and horizontal fatigue test specimens exhibit brittle fracture
6
Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101247
Fig. 10. Fracture surfaces of the fatigue test specimens a) vertical, b) horizontal c)
2x magnification red square in a and EDS results. (For interpretation of the
references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of
this article.)
behavior in contrast to the ductile fractures seen in the tensile test.
Fatigue striations are clearly visible in both specimens. Fatigue stri-
ations are marks found in material that has suffered fatigue dam-
age, and hundreds can be found on the surface of a part that has
experienced this damage. Each fatigue striation usually indicates
a fatigue cycle propagating a fatigue crack into the base material
[37]. An excessive distribution of fatigue striations generally
increases the rate of fatigue crack propagation [38].
Secondary cracks on the vertical specimen are shown in
Fig. 10a. Secondary cracks are structures that progress perpendic-
ular to the main crack direction and reduce the main crack propa-
gation rate by changing the direction of the load distribution. Apart
from this, the fractured surfaces of the specimens in both orienta-
tions exhibit inclusions, just like the fractured surfaces in the ten-
sile test. According to the EDS results in Fig. 10c, the high ratio of
Mn by weight in the first specimen increased the possibility of
MnO inclusion, as explained in the tensile test result section. The
number of inclusion spheres was fewer than those found on the
surface of the tensile test specimens. In addition, no dimple-
containing structures with ductile behavior were formed around
the location of the spheres, as in the tensile test. After the evalua-
tion of all these conditions, the fatigue test specimens exhibited
brittle behavior during fracture. The fracture surface images of
both vertical and horizontal specimens were observed to be quite
similar to each other, and therefore, no significant difference was
found in the evaluation of the fracture behavior or surface
structure.
3.3. Microhardness test
Fig. 11 shows the graph generated from the hardness values
measured across the cross-section of the WAAMed part. The aver-
age hardness value was calculated as approximately 165 HV. The
hardness values measured along the building direction proceeded
with minor changes, and no unusual change in the hardness values
was seen. This was thought to be a result of the high similarity of
the microstructure in the produced layers and the microstructure
variation between the layers. The hardness values taken in the hor-
izontal and vertical directions from the center of the WAAMed part
(Fig. 11b) measured very close to each other, and in this region of
the part the average hardness was calculated as 166 HV for both
Y. Ayan and N. Kahraman
Fig. 11. Microhardness of WAAMed part: a) cross-section in building direction, b)
middle section of part.
orientations. When these were compared with the microhardness
values measured from the cross-section, they were found to be
approximately the same. The fact that the average hardness in
the cross-section specimen and the center specimens were very
close to each other showed that there was not much difference
in the hardness distribution of the WAAMed part.
Rafieazad et al. [28] found the average hardness value as 160 ± 7
HV in the WAAM process they performed with ER70S-6 material.
They attributed the slight change in hardness values to the consis-
tency of the microstructure in the vertical direction. Similarly,
Waqas et al. [39] calculated the average hardness value as 170
HV and stated that this value was higher than in steel with a sim-
ilar C content. They attributed the high hardness value to grain
refinemet caused by the thermal cycles during the WAAM process.
Nemani et al. [40] applied normalization and hardening heat treat-
ments to parts manufactured by the WAAM process and compared
the hardness values of the treated specimens with the hardness
values of untreated parts. They measured the hardness value of
the untreated parts as 160 ± 7 HV, the hardness value of the nor-
malized specimens as 154 ± 1 HV, and those of the hardened spec-
imens as 260 ± 3 HV. The normalizing process slightly decreased
the hardness values, but the hardening heat treatment increased
them at higher differences. Aldalur et al. [18] carried out two dif-
ferent WAAM fabrications, oscillating and overlapping, and found
higher hardness values in the specimens produced by overlapping.
They stated that this situation was due to the inhomogeneity of the
microstructure.
3.4. XRD and microstructure examination
The XRD analysis results are shown in Fig. 12. These results are
in good agreement with those in the literature [28,41]. The XRD
analysis results show that the structure of the WAAMed specimen
was composed of a ferrite. Fig. 13. shows the images taken from
the bottom (c), middle (b) and top (a) parts in the microstructure
studies. The microstructure photographs of the lower and middle
parts show intense polygonal ferrite phases. In Fig. 13b, the grain
size of the middle region of the production is slightly smaller than
that of the lower layers. However, the structures in both regions
Fig. 12. XRD results of WAAMed part.
7
Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101247
Fig. 13. Microstructure of WAAMed part.
are generally similar, and the polygonal ferrite phase structure is
dominant. Pearlite phases surrounding the ferrite grains are also
seen in these structures.
The layers produced during the WAAM process were constantly
exposed to heat because of the melting of the upper layer. For this
reason, the layers built first had higher temperature gradients than
the middle and upper regions. The areas under the heat-affected
zone (HAZ) outside the melt pool were under continuous thermal
cycles. For this reason, it was inevitable for the fabricated parts
to contain regionally different microstructures. When these situa-
tions were evaluated, the similarity of the structure in the lower
and middle parts was closely related to the manufacturing proce-
dure and process parameters applied in the WAAM. Applying the
fabrication as a closed path ensured that each point on the weld
bead in the same layer would undergo equal heating and cooling
processes. Moreover, after each layer was manufactured, it was
cooled down to approximately 90–100 °C. These conditions con-
tributed to the similar microstructure throughout the WAAMed
part. The relatively small grain size of the structure in the middle
was based on the lower layers being exposed to more heat and
tending to be more in the HAZ. Therefore, it was possible to see
larger-grained structures in the HAZ. Dirisu et al. applied single-
pass and oscillating fabrication with WAAM and found the grain
sizes in the oscillating production to be larger due to higher heat
accumulation [42]. Despite this, the microstructure studies showed
that the structures in the lower and middle parts of the WAAMed
production exhibited a high degree of similarity.
The structure in the top region (Fig. 13a) is seen as being very
different from the lower and middle parts. After the production
of the top layer, there is no heat input for subsequent heat treat-
ment as in the lower layers. In this respect, it was expected that
the grain sizes would be larger since the region in the upper part
would not undergo a tempering process as with the previous lay-
ers. The images of the top layer (Fig. 13a) show that the grain sizes
are larger than in the other regions. In addition, the fact that polyg-
onal ferrite grains were less common in the structure created a dis-
tinctive situation for the other sub-regions. In addition to
Y. Ayan and N. Kahraman
polygonal ferrite, which was rare in the top layer structure, the
phases were mainly of acicular ferrite, widmastaten ferrite, and
allotriomorphic ferrite. The structures in the upper layer were also
seen in the study by Le and Paris [26]. Liberini et al. [43] stated that
the microstructure of the lower and middle parts of the production
with ER70S-6 material was nearly coaxial, and the upper part con-
sisted of a lamellar structure. Another study reported that a homo-
geneous microstructure could be achieved in WAAM structures by
controlling the fabrication parameters [44].
4. Conclusions
In the present study, a medium-scale metal part was fabricated
using low alloy ER70S-6 steel via the WAAM technique and some
mechanical and metallurgical tests were carried out. The following
results were obtained in the study.
 The tensile tests showed the tensile properties of the vertical
and horizontal specimens to be similar, based on the closed
path procedure followed in the fabrication processes. This
ensured that the region on each layer manufactured with this
method was exposed to approximately the same heat input
and had about the same cooling rate.
 The fatigue strength of the vertical and horizontal specimens
was found to be approximately 180 MPa at 107 fatigue life.
 In the SEM examinations performed on both the tensile and
fatigue fracture surfaces, extensive inclusions assumed to be
MnO were observed in the fractured regions. These inclusions
were believed to be the factor that triggered the fracture
process.
 The hardness test results showed that the hardness values mea-
sured along the building direction of the WAAMed part and the
hardness of the vertical and horizontal specimens taken from
the central region of the part were very close to each other. This
indicated a similar hardness distribution when the WAAMed
part was evaluated as a whole.
 The XRD analysis results showed that the manufactured part
structure was ferritic. The microstructure photographs taken
from different regions along the building direction of the
WAAMed part demonstrated that, except for the top zone, the
polygonal ferrite structure was dominant. Because there was
no repeated heat input in the top zone, a larger-grained struc-
ture was formed that included mainly acicular ferrite, widmas-
taten ferrite, and allotriomorphic ferrite phases.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Karabük University Scientific
Research Projects Coordination Unit (Project number: FDK-2019-
2130) and The Scientific and Technological Research Council of
Turkey (Project number: 219M111). The authors would like to
thank these institutions.
8
Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101247
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