GMAW Cold Wire Technology for Adjusting the Ferrite-Austenite Ratio of Wire and Arc Additive Manufactured Duplex Stainless Steel Components

The use of commercially available filler metals for wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) of duplex stainless steel components results in a microstructure with a very low ferrite content. The ferrite-austenite ratio in the duplex stainless steel weld metal depends on both the cooling rate and particularly on the chemical composition. However, the research and testing of special filler metals for additive deposition welding using wire and arc processes is time-consuming and expensive. This paper describes a method that uses an additional cold wire feed in the gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process to selectively vary the alloy composition and thus the microstructure of duplex stainless steel weld metal. By mixing different filler metals, a reduction of the nickel equivalent and hence an increase in the ferrite content in additively manufactured duplex stainless steel specimens was achieved. The homogeneous mixing of electrode and cold wire was verified by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Furthermore, the addition of cold wire resulted in a significant increase in sample height while the sample width remained approximately the same.