Novel electric arc-based surface smoothening for wire arc additively manufactured components

The components fabricated through the wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process exhibit poor surface topology and often require post-processing steps like milling, shot-peening, and laser remelting. The current study investigates a technique to enhance the surface topology of WAAM components by employing the same WAAM setup. The electric arc, generated by the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) setup, is selectively scanned over the fabricated WAAM component. The surface, under the influence of the electric arc, melts the material and redistributes it, eliminating excessive peaks and valleys. This surface smoothening operation produces a surface typically with a ∼45 % reduction in the average roughness (Sa) of the top surface and a ∼70 % reduction in Sa for the side surface of the WAAM component.