Surface Characteristics, Microstructural, and Tribological Behavior of Wire Arc Additive Manufactured Aluminum-5356 Alloy

In the present work, aluminum-5356 alloy was deposited using wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) equipped with a robotic gas metal arc welding setup (GMAW). The morphology, microhardness, microstructure, and tribological features of the WAAM-deposited specimen were studied in detail. The results show that the microhardness of the WAAM-deposited Al-5356 alloy increased from 57 to 81 HV from the top to the bottom portion. The wear resistance of the deposited component also increased from the top to the bottom portion. Moreover, the microstructure and mechanical properties of the deposited wall were investigated on deposited specimens with selected parameters from the top to bottom area of specimens, respectively. The detailed study shows the understanding of the effect of variation in current on the surface morphology, microstructure, hardness, and wear behavior of different areas from top to bottom of the deposited multilayer components.