Process Control of 3D Welding as a Droplet-Based Rapid Prototyping Technique

Three-dimensional welding is investigated as a rapid prototyping technique for the production of real Inetallic parts using gas metal arc welding principles. A high speed machine vision system is used to study the correlation between droplet transfer parameters and resultant weld penetration characteristics. Experimental work is conducted to determine how droplet transfer frequency, droplet size, and number of passes affect the geometrical and Inetallurgical properties ofthe weld penetration. A finite element analysis is performed in order to study what influence additional layering has on the cooling characteristics and resultant penetration profile.