Material properties, such as porosity, tensile strength, and microstructure, of magnesium-alloy components fabricated using wire-and-arc-based additive-manufacturing techniques, which essentially represent a form of arc-welding technology have been examined. In the proposed method, the wire material is melted by arc discharge, and the molten metal is subsequently solidified and accumulated. Magnesium wire developed in this study facilitated fabrication of magnesium-alloy components using the said additive-manufacturing process. Subsequently, combinations of fabrication conditions, such as the welding current, torch feed speed, and cross feed of the torch, were explored, and suitable conditions for realizing a solid structure with fewer weld defects compared to those observed when using die-casting and other manufacturing methods, were determined. Tensile tests and microstructure observations were also performed to elucidate mechanical properties of magnesium alloy components fabricated via the said wire-and-arc-based technique. It was demonstrated that the fabricated object possesses sufficient tensile strength compared to the observed standard value of the bulk material. Furthermore, results from microstructure observations demonstrated that the higher the torch feed speed, the finer is the microstructure. Moreover, the observed microstructure at the boundary between the substrate and fabricated object was finer compared to that at the top layer.

Material-property evaluation of magnesium alloys fabricated using wire-and-arc-based additive manufacturing

M. Mróz

Papers

Gas-tungsten arc welding of AZ91 magnesium alloy