Additive manufacturing with GMAW welding and CMT technology

Additive manufacturing will be an option to develop prototypes or mechanical parts that will be made faster and cheaper than other techniques such as laser cladding or electron beam. The main objective of this research was to study the optimal initial conditions of the proposed additive manufacturing system in order to obtain metal prototypes. This optimal conditions have been presented taking into account the measurements of geometrical conditions and surface finishing. The proposed additive manufacturing system consist on an integration of a Fronius TPS 4000 CMT R welding machine with a BF30 Vario Optimun CNC milling machine. Once the material was selected, the optimal conditions to make the first layer have been obtained. Also the geometrical shape of the defined wall has been predicted. Previous simple geometries, such as prismatic and cylindrical parts have been manufactured. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.