Young scientist, lecturer at the SUSU Department of Welding Engineering Ilsiia Suleimanova, together with her colleagues and students, is working on creating an unusual 3D printer. The prototype is already in operation in the laboratory.
Existing 3D printers are capable of producing a part of any complex shape from a special powder. Layer after layer is applied and "sintered" with each other. The same idea can be implemented using welding wire, fusing metal layers one after another. Welding wire will be cheaper, and it becomes possible to manufacture products from various grades of steel, alloys or their combinations, for example, aluminium with titanium, from high-entropy alloys.
The technology is called Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). It is not yet widely used in industry, but research institutes in St. Petersburg, Perm, and France have pilot models.
The design feature of the SUSU printer is its small size. The body is 50 by 50 centimetres with transparent walls, through which you can see how the table and burner move – a device with a "bell"-shaped screen, where the welding wire and protective gas are fed. The growing process is controlled by a program based on the Cura package – regular software for 3D printers.
Previously, if a prototype of a part needed to be created, it was necessary to first contact the foundry workers, they created a mould, poured hot metal into it, and more metal was consumed due to shrinkage; then it was the time for stamping or other pressure treatment, as well as mechanical processing. Now one specialist can make the same part in a much shorter time and reduce material losses.
However, scientists also see possible pitfalls. How will the layers of composite material behave, what mechanical properties will they give to the part? This depends on the order or speed at which the layers are fused, how their fibres are arranged. Scientists are trying to eliminate anisotropy of properties so that the grains of the layers are oriented chaotically. And this option needs to be studied: both with the help of mathematical modelling and with the help of mechanical tests of samples printed on the new printer. It is necessary to guarantee the reliability of the “printed” parts to the consumer before releasing the printer to the world.
Ilsiia Suleimanova’s work is supported by a grant from the Step into the Future program.
Meanwhile, local enterprises are already showing interest in the technology of 3D printing with welding wire. When the famous statesman Viktor Khristenko met with young scientists from SUSU, Ilsiia Suleimanova shared about this unusual printer. The idea attracted the attention of the State Duma deputy Valery Gartung.
Such a device can be useful in forging and pressing production, and in mechanical engineering in general: for example, to solve problems with gallery cooling of engine pistons.
Ilsiia Suleimanova continues to work on her Candidate thesis, which is devoted to welding pipes made of high-strength steels of the K80 class. Such pipes are used in the oil and gas industry and are often used in the harsh conditions of the Far North. Ilsiia studies the structure and mechanical properties of a welded joint depending on the thermal cycle of welding and in low-temperature conditions. She also takes part in other studies related to the weldability of materials. One example is studying the possibility of cold cracks in welded joints of high-strength steels in shipbuilding.