Preliminary Characterization of Residual Stress Evolution in Electro-Slag Additive Manufacturing (ESAM)

The Electro-Slag Additive Manufacturing (ESAM) process combines electroslag strip cladding (ESC) with gas metal arc welding (GMAW). In ESAM, the weld and slag pools associated with ESC are contained by integral GMAW-printed walls. As a result, ESAM enables directed energy deposition additive manufacturing approximately an order of magnitude faster than conventional wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM). Using this process, the majority of a printed body consists of large (30+ mm) and thick (3+ mm) weld beads with long cooling times relative to WAAM. Since larger weld pools and lower cooling rates are hypothesized to result in lower residual stresses in printed bodies, this work investigates the relationships between process parameters, bead sizes, and residual stresses. Residual stresses are measured in ESAM-produced bodies utilizing shallow hole drilling and paired with computational modeling. Additionally, the mechanical properties of the printed materials are quantified.