Energy consumption and economic modelling of performance measures in machining of wire arc additively manufactured Inconel-625

Abstract

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing has the potential to form net near shaped products ranging from medium to large scale without any complicated equipment. However, dimensional tolerance and accuracy are very difficult to achieve in WAAM process due to high deposition rate (1-10 kg/h). Hence, the post processing in terms of machining is required to meet the functional requirements in various industrial applications. So far, no literature has been found which demonstrates the combined study of fabrication, machinability and cost analysis of AM-ed part and its comparison with its wrought counterpart. This novel experimental research work compares the machining performance of AM-ed IN625 alloy with its wrought part during drilling, based on the hole quality, tool wear, cutting forces, power & energy consumption parameters under dry and flood cooling conditions. Cost analysis has been carried out for various costs associated with the machining process. Poor machinability of AM-ed part, i.e., high values of torque (500% in dry and 50.98% in flood condition) & thrust force (44.37% in dry and 21.28% in flood condition), increased power consumption (35% in dry and 37% in flood condition) and poor hole-quality (130% in dry and 141% flood condition for CIRE), as compared to wrought part is detected after analysis of experimental results.