Cette étude répond à une demande industrielle de réparation d’une pièce aéronautique en alliage d’aluminium 6061 à l’aide d’un procédé de soudage à l’arc. La première partie est consacrée à la comparaison des procédés Metal Inert Gas (MIG), MIG pulsé, Tungsten Inert Gas et MIG Cold Metal transfer (CMT). C’est ce dernier procédé qui a été sélectionné pour ses aptitudes particulières, comme son bon contrôle des paramètres et le faible endommagement produit dans le métal de base. Puis, deux métaux d’apport ont été testés – les alliages 5356 et 6061 – avec deux stratégies de réparation : le soudage et le rechargement. Les résultats d’essais mécaniques ont démontré que le rechargement avec l’aluminium 5356 est l’option la plus adaptée pour cette application. Les essais sur pièce réelle ont prouvé la pertinence de cette approche.La zone affectée thermiquement générée, dans l’alliage 6061, par les procédés de soudage à l’arc a également été caractérisée. Il a été mis en évidence une variation de la microstructure associée aux changements de propriétés mécaniques de cette zone. Enfin, les essais exploratoires de soudage homogène à l’arc, c’est-à-dire, avec le métal d’apport en 6061, ont prouvé qu’il était possible, dans certaines conditions, de souder sans générer de fissuration, bien que, cet aluminium soit réputé comme étant insoudable de cette manière. / This study responds to an industrial demand of repair using an arc welding process. It concerns an aeronautical piece made in 6061 aluminium alloy. The first part of the study is devoted to the comparison of processes Metal Inert Gas (MIG), pulsed MIG, Tungsten Inert Gas and MIG Cold Metal Transfer (CMT). It is the latter process that was selected for its special abilities, such as its good control of parameters and the low damaging produced in the base metal. Then, two filler alloys were tested – 5356 and 6061 aluminium alloys– with two repairing strategies : welding and building up. The results of mechanical tests showed that building up with aluminum 5356 is most suitable option for this application. The trials on the real piece showed the relevance of this approach.The heat affected zone generated by the arc welding process in the 6061 base metal was also characterized. It was shown a varaition of microstructure associated with the change of mechanical properties in this zone. Finally, exploratory trials of homogeneous arc welding, i.e., with the 6061 filler alloy showed that it was possible, with certain conditions, to weld without generating weld cracking, although, this aluminium is deemed unweldable by this way.

The diploma thesis presents an overview of additive production technologies and a summary of technologies used for 3D metal printing using a robot. All of them are generally described and at the same time assigned to their specific commercial use, or the academic research that deals with them. The work examines the suitability of the material EN ISO 14341-A: G 3Si1 for 3D printing, for which a modification of the Col Metal Transfer technology, Cycle Step is used. The experimental printout of the sample is evaluated on the basis of surface and mechanical tests. Capillary test, examination of microstructure a macrostructure, tensile test and microhardness test. All of them were satisfactory and the suitability of the welding wire for 3D printing was confirmed by the given technology.

No description available.

In the automotive industry a commonly used material is thin steel sheets coated with a thin layer of zinc for corrosion resistance purposes. Welding of this material, with the high temperatures involved, causes problems with zinc burn-off leading to reduced corrosion resistance. The zinc evaporation also causes arc disturbances leading to spatter formation, pores and difficulties achieving good visual weld quality. The joints are in many cases visible or semi-visible (e.g. visible after opening a door) and “A-grade” quality is demanded, meaning no visible discontinuities are allowed. It also implies a smooth and generally appealing appearance of the joint.An alternative to welding is brazing, and laser brazing meets the requirements but the process is associated with high costs. In the national project “LEX-B”, funded by Vinnova, the possibilities of using arc brazing, in particular one MIG/MAG brazing and two TIG brazing processes, for some automotive applications are investigated. This master thesis is connected to the first part of the project and aims at compiling data for making a selection of the most promising process to investigate and optimise further. LEX-B is conducted in cooperation between Swerea KIMAB, Volvo Trucks, Scania CV and University West. The joint of interest is a lap joint between bottom and upper sheets of 1.2 mm and 0.8 mm respectively that represents a joint on the side of a truck cabin. The requirements are visual A-grade quality and tensile shear strength of 300 MPa.In the project the MIG/MAG process Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) was compared to the TIG processes forceTIG and Plasmatron. CMT was experimentally investigated while the results for the other two processes were obtained partly from a previous study and partly from Volvo Trucks where tests were performed simultaneously. A system for measuring data for the process was developed, test specimens were brazed and examined visually and mechanical destructive testing was performed to ensure the tensile shear strength. Parameter studies were done for further process optimisation. / Inom fordonsindustrin är ett ofta använt material stål i tunna ark belagda med zink p.g.a. zinkets korrossionsskyddande egenskaper. Vid svetsning av detta material uppstår problem med zink som förångas vilket leder till minskad korrosionsbeständighet. Förångningen av zink orsakar också störningar av ljusbågen vilket leder till sprut, porer och svårighet att uppnå god visuell svetskvalitet. Fogarna är i många fall synliga eller delvis synliga (t.ex. synlig efter att ha öppnat en dörr) och "A-kvalitet" efterfrågas, vilket innebär att inga synliga diskontinuiteter tillåts. Fogen ska upplevas jämn och tilltalande.Lödning är ett alternativ till svetsning, och laserlödning är en process som uppfyller kraven men är förknippad med höga kostnader. I det nationella projektet "LEX-B", som finansieras av Vinnova, undersöks möjligheterna att använda båglödning, specifikt en MIG/MAG-process och två TIG-processer, för dessa applikationer. Detta examensarbete är anslutet till den första delen av projektet och syftar till ta fram underlag för att välja den mest lovande av dessa processer för vidare utredning och optimering. LEX-B sker i samarbete mellan Swerea KIMAB, Volvo Lastvagnar, Scania CV och Högskolan Väst. Den undersökta fogen är en överlappsfog mellan en undre plåt med 1,2 mm tjocklek och en övre plåt med 0,8 mm tjocklek. Detta representerar en fog på sidan av en lastbilshytt. Kraven är visuell A-kvalitet och en drag-skjuvhållfasthet av 300 MPa.I projektet jämfördes MIG/MAG-processen Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) med TIG-processerna forceTIG och Plasmatron. CMT testades experimentellt medan resultaten för de övriga två processerna erhölls dels från tidigare tester och dels från Volvo Lastvagnar där tester utfördes parallellt. Ett mätsystem for att dokumentera processdata utvecklades och de framställda lödfogarna undersöktes visuellt och med mekanisk förstörande provning för att säkerställa drag-skjuvhållfastheten. Parameterstudier gjordes för vidare optimering av processen.

When joining steel to aluminium there is a reaction between iron and aluminium which results in the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds (IMC). These compounds are usually the reason for the poor mechanical strength of the dissimilar metallic joints. The research on dissimilar metal joining is vast but is mainly focused on the automotive industry and therefore, the material in use is very thin, usually less than 1 mm. For materials with thicker sections the present solution is a transition joint made by explosion welding which permits joining of steel to aluminium and avoids the formation of IMCs. However, this solution brings additional costs and extra processing time to join the materials. The main goals of this project are to understand the mechanism of formation of the IMCs, control the formation of the IMCs, and understand their effects on the mechanical properties of the dissimilar Fe-Al joints during laser welding. Laser welding permits accurate and precise control of the welding thermal cycle and thereby the underpinning mechanism of IMC formation can be easily understood along with the factors which control the strength of the joints. The further goal of this project is to find an appropriate interlayer to restrict the Fe-Al reaction. The first stage of the work was focused on the formation and growth of the Fe-Al IMCs during laser welding. The understanding of how the processing conditions affect the IMC growth provides an opportunity to act and avoid its formation and thereby, to optimize the strength of the dissimilar metal joints. The results showed that even with a negligible amount of energy it was not possible to prevent the IMC formation which was composed of both Fe2Al5 and FeAl3 phases. The IMC growth increases exponentially with the applied specific point energy. However, for higher power densities the growth is more accentuated. The strength of the Fe-Al lap-joints was found to be not only dependent on the IMC layer thickness but also on the bonding area. In order to obtain sound joints it is necessary to achieve a balance between these two factors. The thermal model developed for the laser welding process in this joint configuration showed that for the same level of energy it is more efficient to use higher power densities than longer interaction iv times. Even though a thicker IMC layer is formed under this condition due to higher temperature there is also more melting of aluminium which creates a larger bonding area between the steel and the aluminium. The joint strength is thus improved ... [cont.].

Dans le domaine de la fabrication additive plusieurs technologies cohabitent et présentent des maturités et des applications différentes : le lit de poudre, la projection de poudre et le dépôt de fil pour ne citer que les principales. Nous avons étudié, dans le cadre de cette thèse, la réalisation de pièces de grandes dimensions du domaine aéronautique en alliage d’aluminium, par technologie WAAM (Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing) robotisée. Cette technologie repose sur l’utilisation un générateur de soudure à l'arc, d’un système de protection gazeuse et d’un système d'alimentation en métal d'apport sous forme de fil. Pour répondre à cette problématique, plusieurs voies de recherche ont été investiguées. La première traitait principalement de la génération de trajectoires : Plusieurs expérimentations ont permis de montrer l’intérêt et l’importance de la génération de trajectoires et notamment la maitrise de l’orientation outil pour la fabrication additive de pièces complexes en étudiant le respect de la géométrie souhaitée. La seconde concernait l’étude de la santé matière des pièces fabriquées. Des observations au niveau de la microstructure, mais aussi des caractéristiques mécaniques ont permis de mettre en évidence l’influence des paramètres opératoires sur la qualité de la matière déposée. Enfin, la réalisation de pièces fonctionnelles dans le cadre d’un projet financé par la DGA/DGAC et dont les partenaires étaient : STELIA, CONSTELLIUM, CT INGENIERIE et l’Ecole Centrale de Nantes, a permis de mettre en avant l’intérêt du procédé pour la fabrication de pièces aéronautiques. Un élément de structure aéronautique composé de raidisseurs a été fabriqué avec le procédé WAAM sur un substrat double courbure en alliage aluminium. Les difficultés accrues de réalisation ont pu être levées par l'emploi de la méthodologie développée dans le cadre de la thèse. / In the field of additive manufacturing (AM), several processes are present and have different applications and levels of development: the main technologies are powder-bed based AM, powder projection and Wire Additive Manufacturing (WAM). We have studied, in this PhD work, the manufacturing of large scale components in aluminum alloy for aircraft industry with Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). This technology is based on a welding generator, a shielding gas protection and a feedstock (wire in this case). To solve this issue, several ways of research were investigated. The first one dealt with toolpath generation: several experiments have highlighted the importance of tool path generation and the tool orientation to manufacture complex parts and improve the part accuracy. The second one was about the validation of the material quality after deposit. Microstructural observations and mechanical tests have demonstrated the effect of process parameters on the deposit quality. Finally, in the context of a DGA/DGAC funded research project, whose partners were STELIA, CT INGENIERIE, CONSTELLIUM and l’Ecole Centrale de Nantes, the manufacturing of functional part in aluminum alloy has shown the interest of the process for aircraft industry. A structural component based on a double curvature geometry has been manufactured with WAAM. The methodologies developed in this PhD work have enabled us to solve the issues to manufacture that type of component.

No description available.

This thesis describes advancements in the modelling, optimisation, process control and mechanical performance of novel high deposition rate gas metal arc welding processes for large scale additive manufacturing applications. One of the main objectives of this study was to develop fundamental understanding of the mechanisms involved during processing with particular focus on single layer welds made of carbon steel using both pulsed-current gas metal arc welding and cold metal transfer processes. The effects of interactions between critical welding process variables and weld bead and plate fusion characteristics are studied for single and multi-layers. It was shown that several bead and plate fusion characteristics are strongly affected by the contact tip to work distance, TRIM, wire feed speed, wire feed speed to travel speed ratio, and wire diameter in pulsed-current gas metal arc welding. The arc-length control, dynamic correction and the contact tip to work distance are shown to strongly influence the weld bead geometry in the cold metal transfer process. This fundamental knowledge was essential to ensure the successful development of predictive interaction models capable of determining the weld bead geometry from the welding process parameters. The models were developed using the least-squares analysis and multiple linear regression method. The gas tungsten constricted arc welding process was utilised for the first time for out-of-chamber fabrication of a large scale and high-quality Ti-6Al-4V component. The main focus was, however, in the use of the cold metal transfer process for improving out-of-chamber deposition of Ti-6Al-4V at much higher deposition rates. The effect of the cold metal transfer process on the grain refinement features in the fusion zone of single layer welds under different torch gas shielding conditions was investigated. It was shown that significant grain refinement occurs with increasing helium content. The morphological features and static mechanical performance of the resulting multi-layered Ti-6Al-4V walls were also examined and compared with those in gas tungsten constricted arc welding. The results show that a considerable improvement in static tensile properties is obtained in both testing directions with cold metal transfer over gas tungsten constricted arc welding. It was suggested that this improvement in the mechanical behaviour could be due to the formation of more fine-grained structures,which are therefore more isotropic. The average ultimate tensile strength and yield strength of the as-deposited Ti-6Al-4V material processed via cold metal transfer meet the minima specification values recommended for most Ti-6Al-4V products. Neutron diffraction technique was used to establish the effect of repeated thermo-mechanical cycling on the generation, evolution and distribution of residual stresses during wire and arc additive manufacturing. The results show a significant redistribution of longitudinal residual stresses along both the substrate and multi-bead with repeated deposition. However, a nearly complete relaxation occurs along the built, once the base plate constraint is removed.

No description available.