Wire and arc additive manufacturing of 4043 Al alloy using a cold metal transfer method

Cold metal transfer plus pulse (C + P) arc was applied in the additive manufacturing of 4043 Al alloy parts. Parameters in the manufacturing of the parts were investigated. The properties and microstructure of the parts were also characterized. Experimental results showed that welding at a speed of 8 mm/s and a wire feeding speed of 4.0 m/min was suitable to manufacture thin-walled parts, and the reciprocating scanning method could be adopted to manufacture thick-walled parts. The thin-walled parts of the C + P mode had fewer pores than those of the cold metal transfer (CMT) mode. The thin- and thick-walled parts of the C + P mode showed maximum tensile strengths of 172 and 178 MPa, respectively. Hardness decreased at the interface and in the coarse dendrite and increased in the refined grain area.