Effects of deposition height stability of CuCrZr alloy based on arc voltage sensing: Influence of materials and energy saving on wire arc additive manufacturing

Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a promising process technology to produce large-size metal parts. Nevertheless, it is a challenging task to deposit Cu alloys by WAAM due to their high thermal conductivity. Poor quality of geometry and height stability result in significant material waste and energy consumption. In this paper, a control system based on arc voltage sensing was developed for monitoring and controlling the deposition progress of CuCrZr alloy. An empirical mode decomposition (EMD) filtering method was used to filter out the random noise in the original arc voltage signals. A novel dual control method combining height lifting control and iterative learning control was proposed, where the lifting height and wire feed speed were used as manipulated variables and the arc voltage was the controlled variable. The effectiveness of control system was tested through the deposition of single-channel multi-layer thin walls. Compared with the conventional method, the energy input is reduced by 28.7%, and the effective material forming utilization is increased by 50.0%. More stable arc voltage and better forming quality indicate that arc voltage sensing and dual control method are effective in improving height stability and enhancing material and energy utilization.