Advanced Welding and Additive Manufacturing

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystalline Metals and Alloys".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 August 2025) | Viewed by 3529

Special Issue Editors

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, China
Interests: additive manufacturing; hybrid welding; laser processes; metal; aluminum alloy; titanium alloy
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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130025, China
Interests: laser arc composite welding/additive manufacturing; intelligent and efficient repair and remanufacturing; integrated treatment of welding/additive manufacturing processes and component surfaces

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the advancement of Industry 4.0, metal-joining technologies and additive manufacturing (3D printing) are gradually becoming the core drivers of modern manufacturing. These technologies not only revolutionize traditional product design and production methods but also demonstrate significant application potential across various sectors such as aerospace, automotive manufacturing, medical devices, and energy. To foster academic exchange and technological progress in this field, our journal has established a Special Issue on "Advanced Welding and Additive Manufacturing", soliciting high-quality research papers, review articles, and technical reports from around the globe. This Special Issue will focus on, but is not limited to, the following research directions:

Metal-joining technologies:

1. Innovations in welding processes (such as laser welding, electron beam welding, friction stir welding, etc.);

2. The development and application of new joining materials;

3. Analysis of microstructure evolution and mechanical properties during the joining process;

4. Methods for joining multi-material composite structures and their reliability evaluation.

Additive Manufacturing Technologies:

1. The current status and future trends of mainstream additive manufacturing processes like metal powder bed fusion (PBF) and directed energy deposition (DED);

2. Optimization strategies for material characteristics, forming accuracy, and surface quality in additive manufacturing;

3. Case studies of additive manufacturing applications in complex structural components with a lightweight design;

4. The exploration of additive manufacturing processes for new metallic materials (such as ultra-high-strength steels, titanium alloys, nickel-based superalloys, etc.).

Dr. Chao Chen
Dr. Guorui Sun
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • welding
  • additive manufacturing
  • microstructure
  • mechanical properties

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 5650 KB  
Article
Coaxial Wire Feeding-Friction Stir Additive Manufacturing
by Mengmeng Liu, Rui Wang, Xiaohu Zhu, Ximing Cheng and Songmo Li
Crystals 2025, 15(9), 784; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst15090784 - 31 Aug 2025
Viewed by 584
Abstract
At present, most studies in the field of Wire-Friction Stir Additive Manufacturing (W-FSAM) adopt the side wire feeding method. However, the side wire feeding method has problems in that the wire feeding tube occupies working space and the tool is prone to clogging. [...] Read more.
At present, most studies in the field of Wire-Friction Stir Additive Manufacturing (W-FSAM) adopt the side wire feeding method. However, the side wire feeding method has problems in that the wire feeding tube occupies working space and the tool is prone to clogging. To address this, this study proposes a Coaxial Wire Feeding-Friction Stir Additive Manufacturing (CWF-FSAM) method. The CWF-FSAM device adopts a structure where a fixed shaft is coaxially nested inside the stirring shaft, and the fixed shaft is machined with through-channels along the circumferential direction for wire feeding, which eliminates the limitation of the wire feeding tube. This study elaborates on the structure of the CWF-FSAM device, then uses 6061 aluminum alloy as the deposition material for additive manufacturing, and conducts characterization and analysis on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the deposited components. The results show that the interlayer bonding of the deposited components is dense without defects. The components exhibit uniform and fine equiaxed grains, with the average grain sizes of the top, middle, and bottom parts being 3.52 µm, 3.35 µm, and 4.07 µm, respectively. In terms of mechanical properties, the tensile strengths of the components along the building direction (BD) and longitudinal direction (LD) both reach 70% of that of the base material (BM) wire. The hardness ranges from 36 HV to 42 HV. In addition, closed-loop components were prepared by continuous counterclockwise deposition using the CWF-FSAM device. The tensile strengths of the overlapping area, straight section, and corner were 124.45 MPa, 125.88 MPa, and 126.95 MPa, respectively. The overall performance of the closed-loop components is uniform and stable, which indicates that the CWF-FSAM-deposited components have good mechanical property isotropy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Welding and Additive Manufacturing)
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14 pages, 12121 KB  
Article
Influence of Cold Metal Transfer Parameters on Weld Bead Geometry, Mechanical Properties, and Corrosion Performance of Dissimilar Aluminium Alloys
by Balram Yelamasetti, Mohammed Zubairuddin, Sri Phani Sushma I, Mohammad Faseeulla Khan, Syed Quadir Moinuddin and Hussain Altammar
Crystals 2025, 15(8), 722; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst15080722 - 13 Aug 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 713
Abstract
Aluminium alloys are known for their high strength-to-weight-ratio offering a wide range of applications in the aerospace and automotive industries. However, challenges exist like porosity, oxidation, solidification shrinkage, hot cracking, etc., in joining aluminium alloys. To address these challenges, there is a necessity [...] Read more.
Aluminium alloys are known for their high strength-to-weight-ratio offering a wide range of applications in the aerospace and automotive industries. However, challenges exist like porosity, oxidation, solidification shrinkage, hot cracking, etc., in joining aluminium alloys. To address these challenges, there is a necessity to understand the process parameters for the welding/joining of aluminium alloys. The present study aims to investigate the effect of cold metal transfer (CMT) welding process parameters (i.e., welding speed and wire feed rate) on mechanical properties for dissimilar AA6061-AA6082 alloys weld joints. Two different welding conditions viz. CMT1 (speed: 0.5 m/min with feed: 5 m/min) and CMT2 (speed: 0.3 m/min with feed: 3 m/min), were considered. The weldments were deployed for testing different mechanical properties such as tensile, impact, hardness, corrosion tests and bead profile geometries. The results reveal that CMT1 has better mechanical properties (tensile_233 MPa; impact_8 J; corrosion rate_0.01368 mm/year) than CMT2, showing the welding speed and wire feed rate play a significant role in the joint performance. The heat affected zone and fusion zone are narrow for CMT1 when compared with CMT2. The present study provides insights into the CMT process and dissimilar joining of aluminium alloys that might be helpful for additive manufacturing of dissimilar aluminium alloys as future research directions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Welding and Additive Manufacturing)
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18 pages, 7231 KB  
Article
Electron Beam Welding of Dissimilar Ti6Al4V and Al6082-T6 Alloys Using Magnetron-Sputtered Cu Interlayers
by Georgi Kotlarski, Darina Kaisheva, Maria Ormanova, Milka Atanasova, Angel Anchev, Vladimir Dunchev, Borislav Stoyanov and Stefan Valkov
Crystals 2025, 15(4), 373; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst15040373 - 18 Apr 2025
Viewed by 764
Abstract
In the present work, the influence of a magnetron-sputtered copper interlayer on the process of electron beam welding of Ti6Al4V and Al6082-T6 plates was investigated. A sample without a filler was also prepared as a control. The microstructure, microhardness, and tensile properties of [...] Read more.
In the present work, the influence of a magnetron-sputtered copper interlayer on the process of electron beam welding of Ti6Al4V and Al6082-T6 plates was investigated. A sample without a filler was also prepared as a control. The microstructure, microhardness, and tensile properties of both samples were determined. Applying a copper interlayer resulted in the formation of an additional CuAl2 intermetallic compound in the form of a eutectic structure along the boundary of the aluminum crystal grains. A noticeable shift in the preferred crystallographic orientation of the aluminum phase from the denser {111} family of crystallographic planes in the case of the sample prepared without a filler towards less-dense ones such as {110}, {100}, and {311} in the case of applying a copper filler was observed. This was most probably caused by the lower free surface energy of the crystals oriented towards the {111} family of crystal planes, which favored the chemical bonding between the aluminum solid solution and the CuAl2 intermetallics. As a result of applying the copper interlayer, a noticeable increase in the microhardness of the weld seam was observed from 78 ± 2 HV0.05 to 136 ± 3 HV0.05. Applying a copper interlayer also led to an improved energy absorption capacity of the weld seam, as suggested by the increase in the UTS/YS ratio from 1.03 to 1.44. This could be explained by the smooth transition between the highly dissimilar Ti6Al4V and Al6082-T6 alloys. The UTS of the sample with the copper filler reached 208 MPa, which was about 60% of that of the base Al6082-T6 alloy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Welding and Additive Manufacturing)
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22 pages, 8797 KB  
Article
Distortion and Residual Stress Reduction Using Asynchronous Heating Sources for Multi-Robot Coordinated Wire-Arc Directed Energy Deposition
by Yongzhe Li, Chenxiao Zhang, Caowei Huang, Xiaoyu Wang, Guangjun Zhang and Yijun Zhou
Crystals 2025, 15(2), 155; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst15020155 - 2 Feb 2025
Viewed by 1009
Abstract
Multi-robot coordinated wire-arc directed energy deposition (MRC-WA-DED) has proliferated in recent decades, employing asynchronous independent heating sources to deposit material simultaneously. Beyond enhancing efficiency, MRC-WA-DED introduces a synergic effect between the heating sources, resulting in a controllable thermal field on the deposit component. [...] Read more.
Multi-robot coordinated wire-arc directed energy deposition (MRC-WA-DED) has proliferated in recent decades, employing asynchronous independent heating sources to deposit material simultaneously. Beyond enhancing efficiency, MRC-WA-DED introduces a synergic effect between the heating sources, resulting in a controllable thermal field on the deposit component. This research aims to investigate if the synergic effect is beneficial for residual stress and distortion reduction and how it can be applied to enhance the quality of MRC-WA-DEDed parts. A finite element model was developed to compare the thermodynamic response of WA-DED when both coordinated heating sources (CHSs) and a single heating source (SHS) are applied. Simulation and deposition experiments were carried out to clarify the influence of different coordination strategies on the fabricated component’s thermal behavior, stress distribution, and distortion conditions. The results indicate that the synergic effect of CHSs leads to a smoother temperature gradient than that accomplished by a SHS, reducing the maximum distortion of a single layer by 49.1%. As validated by actual depositions, the residual stress, maximum distortion, and hardness of a ten-layer component were reduced by 6.5%, 11.2%, and 18.6%, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Welding and Additive Manufacturing)
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