Heat accumulation prevention in Wire-Arc-Additive-Manufacturing using air jet impingement

One of the most relevant open issues of the WAAM (Wire-Arc-Additive-Manufacturing) process is the heat accumulation, causing a progressive increase of the workpiece average temperature with detrimental consequences on the workpiece quality, e.g. structural collapse. This paper proposes to tackle this issue by introducing a workpiece cooling system based on impinging air jets. A numerical model of jet impingement cooling is applied to a finite element thermal model of the WAAM process, with the aim of assessing its effectiveness. The results highlight that the proposed technique can be regarded as a promising approach to prevent the occurrence of heat accumulation.