Simulation of the influences of surface topography of deposited layer on arc shape and state in arc based additive forming
Authors: Zhou Xiang-Man  , Zhang Hai-Ou  , Wang Gui-Lan  , Bai Xing-Wang  ,   State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China;,   State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China;,   School of Mechanical Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China
Published: December 2020

The stacking deposition and the overlapping deposition are usually employed in arc based additive forming process, which will result in different surface topographies of deposited layer. Consequently, the shape and state, heat and mass transfer of electric arc will be affected by the surface topography of deposited layer. A three-dimensional numerical model of electric arc based on magnetic fluid dynamics, local thermodynamic equilibrium and optical thin assumption for arc based additive forming process with pure argon shielding gas is presented. Simultaneously, four kinds of deposited layer model with different surface topographies are established, which are the deposited layer models of planar substrate, namely the substrate without weld bead, deposited layer model of single-pass single-layer, deposited layer model of single-pass two-layers, and deposited layer model of overlapping. The numerical calculation is performed on condition that deposition current and the distance between the electrodes are constant. And the simulation results include the profile of electric arc, corresponding temperature field, flow field, current density, electromagnetic force, and the arc pressure distribution. The temperature field of planar substrate accords well with other researcher's experimental result, and the profiles of electric arc are in good agreement with images captured by high-speed camera. Surface topography of deposited layer plays a decisive role in determining the profile of electric arc under the same process conditions. The comparison of evolvement among the distributions on specified paths shows that the electric arc of planar substrate has higher temperature, velocity, current density and pressure in the arc center, arising from completely symmetrical deposition layer model and smaller contact area between the arc and the substrate; the number of layers of single-pass multi-layer deposited layer has little influence on various parameters of electric arc, but because the deposited layer height changes, the temperature and pressure on the outside of deposited layer have small deviation; asymmetric arc profile will form when the overlapping deposition is performed. There is a relatively low temperature in the arc center, resulting from larger contact area between the arc and the surface of deposited layer. In addition, the distributions of current density, electromagnetic force and pressure deflect to the deposited layer. The above conclusions can provide a theoretical basis for basic research and process decision of arc based additive forming, and it can also provide the parameters for the subsequent weld pool dynamics and metal transfer simulation.