Towards the Next Generation Fast and Energy Efficient Arc-Resistance Hybrid Additive Manufacturing (ARHAM).

Current metal additive manufacturing (AM) involves a large amount of energy in the manufacture of feedstock powders or wires and then globally melt them to create the near-net shapes. Concurrently, sheet lamination AM techniques minimize energy use on the cost of strength or scalability. The proposed research is a step in the direction of the metal AM parts with the desired strength and with sufficient low lead time and energy consumption, and thereby brings in the concept of a new generation fast and energy-efficient Arc-Resistance Hybrid Additive Manufacturing. The proposal uses arc-based plasma inert gas welding to deposit metallic droplets on the faying surfaces and uses them as the projections in resistance welding. In addition to the benefits of sheet lamination, the premise of droplet as projection is to increase the allowable sheet thickness and eliminate the capital and design investment related to projections for new materials. Relevant research questions on droplets’ formation, shaping while depositing on plates, and melting, spreading and mutual interaction during resistance welding are addressed through numerical and experimental studies divided into two work packages (WPs). Subsequently, WP3 and 4 cover process development, application-oriented research and valorization. As a result, a societal impact, in the form of high-strength, fast, energy-efficient and affordable multi-material products, particularly suitable for biomedical applications, is envisaged.