Abstract:
Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is one of the promising metal additive
manufacturing techniques being used for fabricating medium to large-scale parts and objects
in various industries. During the last decade, WAAM has been used to produce parts with
tailored properties by combining different materials in a single structure. Integrating different
materials provides an opportunity to explore their efficacy in manufacturing functionally
graded materials (FGM). Current research explores utilization of Gas Metal Arc Welding
(GMAW) based WAAM in fabrication of Functionally Graded Tri-metallic Structure (FGTS).
Individual as well as combination of three types of steels i.e. Mild steel (ER70S-6), Austenitic
stainless steel (SS-316L) and High strength low alloy steel (AISI-5130) through WAAM was
studied for this paper. Research validated that all three materials exhibited distinct
microstructure which is in line with their individual alloy chemistry with smooth transition
observed in FGTS. Tensile testing also demonstrated excellent integration of mechanical
properties, with Ultimate Tensile Strength (442.48 MPa) and elongation (25.93%) representing
a balance between strength and ductility. The research offers a novel avenue for producing trimetallic steel structures and widens the design opportunities for structures requiring sitespecific properties.
