Trajectory Planning Strategies for Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

What is it about?

In Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), conventional deposition trajectory strategies can lead printed parts to non-conformities, such as unfilled or material accumulated regions and geometric deviation in the areas of frequent arc strikes and arc stops. Space-Filling strategies, such as the “Pixel” strategy, are welcome to face these occurrences, as they can generate continuous trajectories that fill out the surface. However, due to different and complex geometries, continued improvement of such strategy algorithms is visualised. In this context, this work aimed at proposing and evaluating the progress in the Basic-Pixel strategy algorithm towards performance gain. The objective is also to investigate the operational efficiency and effectiveness of an enhanced version compared to conventional strategies. The results showed that the improvements proposed to the Basic-Pixel strategy could generate continuous trajectories with shorter distances and comparable building times (operational efficiency). Regarding operational effectiveness, the parts built by the Enhanced-Pixel strategy presented a lower dimensional deviation than the other strategy studied. Therefore, the Enhanced-Pixel strategy appears to be a good candidate for building more complex printable parts and delivering operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Featured Image

Photo by Osman Talha Dikyar on Unsplash

Photo by Osman Talha Dikyar on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The trajectory must be efficiently and effectively planned to succeed with additive manufacturing as a tool for printing functional parts, making this technology feasible for industry. To study new methods of trajectory helps to reach the goals.

Perspectives