科研之友
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摘要
Micro-plasma transferred arc (mu-PTA) deposition process has potential to meet requirements of the meso-sized fabrication and repair of the high value components. This paper reports on the development of mu-PTA as cost effective and energy efficient alternative process for small sized deposition with an overall objective to repair and/or remanufacture the defective dies and molds. An experimental setup was developed to deposit 300 mu m diameter wire of AISI P20 tool steel on the substrate of the same material which is one of the most commonly used materials for making the dies and molds used for various applications. Two stage experiments were conducted to indentify the important process parameters generating regular and smooth single bead geometry. The process was further explored for highest possible deposition rate for fabrication of straight walls through multi-layer deposition. The mu-PTA deposition process was found to be capable of fabricating straight walls having total wall width of 2.45 mm and effective wall width of 2.11 mm. The deposition efficiency was found to be 87% for the maximum deposition rate of 42 g/h. The microscopic examination and micro-hardness measurements revealed that the deposited wall is free from cracks, porosity, and inclusions. This study confirms the capability of mu-PTA for ALM in comparison to the existing high energy deposition processes used for meso-scale fabrication and repair applications of the dies and molds. This work confirms that mu-PTA wire deposition process offers the advantages of the laser based processes at much lower cost and more energy efficiency thus making it potential alternative process for repair and remanufacturing of the defective dies and molds. Use of finer wire can further reduce the deposition size enabling mu-PTA wire deposition process to fabricate the miniaturized parts.
- 出版日期2014-5
