LAUSR

Abstract Wire-feed additive manufacturing is efficient and cost-competitive in producing large expensive metal components with complex geometry in many industries especially for aerospace and automotive industries. Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in the process ability of lightweight high-strength structural materials, such as aluminum alloys. However, there is still a lack of knowledge regarding laser wire-feed metal additive manufacturing (LWMAM) of aluminum and its alloys. To seek stable deposition conditions, it is necessary to understand the relationship between process parameters and geometry characteristics of the deposited materials. In this study, the deposition of Al alloy 5A06 wire with a laser beam was investigated by producing single and multi-layered tracks. The effect of the wire feeding direction and the angle was firstly studied, and then the influence of the main process parameters, such as laser power, traverse speed, and wire feed rate on geometry characteristics of the deposited was investigated. The high-speed camera system was used to capture the images of the weld pool and droplet transfer, which reflected the stability of the welding process.