Effects of Pulse Interval on Forming Process in Wire Arc Metal Additive Manufacturing Using Pulsed Arc Plasma

To overcome the material processing challenges induced by high levels of heat input in wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), an innovative WAAM method using pulsed arc plasma (PAP-WAAM), was developed by the authors in the previous study. In this method, the PAP generated by the pulsed voltage was used as the heat source. The pulse interval can be defined as the time interval between adjacent pulse voltages, which determines the ignition time and frequency of the arc plasma, thus influencing the forming process. However, the effect of pulse interval on the forming process has not yet been revealed. Here, the effects of pulse interval on forming process during the PAP-WAAM of Ti6Al4V, including thermal behavior, arc plasma characteristics, and metal transfer process, were investigated by experiments and simulation. The results exhibited that the interpass temperature and maximum peak temperature decrease with increasing pulse interval at the same arc plasma power, indicating an alleviation of heat accumulation along the building direction. As the pulse interval increased, the ignition mode of the arc plasma changed from ignition between the tungsten electrode and the previously deposited layer to ignition between the tungsten electrode and filler wire, which increased the proportion of discharge energy allocated to the filler wire, thus reducing the overall heat input required for material deposition. When the pulse interval was 300 and 400 ms, only the uninterrupted bridging transfer mode was observed during the deposition process. The uninterrupted bridging transfer is considered to contribute to forming a smooth and consistent layer appearance. In addition, longer pulse intervals resulted in less surface oxidation, narrower wall thickness, and better macrostructure, attributed to reduced heat input and improved effective heat dissipation. This research reveals the effect of pulse interval on forming process during PAP-WAAM, which benefits the fabrication of desirable metal parts.