Fabricating large scale titanium alloy thin-walled double-sided part by hot-wire arc additive manufacturing

Using traditional process to fabricate large scale titanium alloy thin-walled part such as wings and grid rudder, has the problem of low material utilization. Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a flexible manufacturing technology with high deposition efficiency and high material utilization. In addition, a hot-wire device is attached to the WAAM system as auxiliary heat source, and the WAAM system becomes hot-wire arc additive manufacturing (HWAAM) system. In this paper, a large scale titanium alloy drone frame was fabricated by HWAAM. A double-side alternating deposition method was proposed to reduce the thermal deformation of the substrate. Two additional sections of the drone frame was taken off for mechanical analysis. The shape of the whole drone frame is completed and the mechanical properties meet the requirements of the project.