Influence of copper interlayer on the interface characteristics of stainless steel–aluminium transitional structure in wire arc directed energy deposition
ISSN: 1355-2546
Article publication date: 12 September 2023
Issue publication date: 2 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the deposition of SS–Al transitional wall using the wire arc directed energy deposition (WA-DED) process with a Cu interlayer. This study also aims to analyse the metallographic properties of the SS–Cu and Al–Cu interfaces and their mechanical properties.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used transitional deposition of SS–Al material over each other by incorporating Cu as interlayer between the two. The scanning electron microscope analysis, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffractometer analysis, tensile testing and micro-hardness measurement were performed to investigate the interface characteristics and mechanical properties of the SS–Al transitional wall.
Findings
The study discovered that the WA-DED process with a Cu interlayer worked well for the deposition of SS–Al transitional walls. The formation of solid solutions of Fe–Cu and Fe–Si was observed at the SS–Cu interface rather than intermetallic compounds (IMCs), according to the metallographic analysis. On the other hand, three different IMCs were formed at the Al–Cu interface, namely, Al–Cu, Al2Cu and Al4Cu9. The study also observed the formation of a lamellar structure of Al and Al2Cu at the hypereutectic phase. The mechanical testing revealed that the Al–Cu interface failed without significant deformation, i.e. < 4.73%, indicating the brittleness of the interface.
Originality/value
The study identified the formation of HCP–Fe at the SS–Cu interface, which has not been previously reported in additive manufacturing literature. Furthermore, the study observed the formation of a lamellar structure of Al and Al2Cu phase at the hypereutectic phase, which has not been previously reported in SS–Al transitional wall deposition.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the DST-SERB for the financial support (sanction no. ECR/2018/001250) to conduct the research activities.
Availability of data and material: There is no need for a separate archive since the manuscript contains all the details needed to reproduce the work.
Declarations conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no known conflicts of interest that could have influenced the research presented in this paper.
CRediT author statement: Amrit Raj Paul: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Validation, Investigation, Visualisation, Writing – Original Draft; Manidipto Mukherjee: Resources, Methodology, Visualisation, Writing – Review and Editing, Supervision, Project Administration; Mohit Kumar Sahu: Resources, Visualisation, Writing – Review and Editing.
Citation
Paul, A.R., Mukherjee, M. and Sahu, M.K. (2024), "Influence of copper interlayer on the interface characteristics of stainless steel–aluminium transitional structure in wire arc directed energy deposition", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-03-2023-0089
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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