A Case Study of Repairing a Steel Casting Component Using WAMM

Steel castings are more prone to surface defects than other metal castings due to the low fluidity of steel. To repair the surface defect, welding is generally employed in the defective area. However, if the component has an intricate shape and the defect occurs in some isolated area, then welding is not a viable option. Then remanufacturing the component is the only option. However, the additive manufacturing (AM) process can solve this problem. For example, direct energy deposition (DED) is an AM process that can be used to remanufacture precision metal components. Powder and wire both can be used as feedstock material in DED. Wire-based/Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is mostly used to produce large-scale metal parts. It can be used as a repairing tool for complicated shape components where traditional welding is not possible. WAMM is incorporated in this work to repair a casting component. The process of repairing involves several steps, including the preparation of the surface, the deposition, and the post-treatment. This paper presents a case study about the salvaging of a precision steel casting component using the ER 70S-6 filler rod by WAMM. The outcome of the study is to analyze the WAMM process as a repairing tool and the effects of this process on the metallography of the component.