Non-destructive testing application of radiography and ultrasound for wire and arc additive manufacturing

TLDR

The study addresses the challenge of selecting suitable non‑destructive testing methods for Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing parts to ensure quality for industrial applications. It reviews major NDT techniques and evaluates their ability to detect WAAM defects during monitoring, in‑process, or post‑process inspection. Radiography and ultrasonic testing were applied to reference specimens, alongside metallographic, hardness, and electrical conductivity analyses for material characterization. Results show that these NDT methods can detect typical WAAM defects, and electrical conductivity measurement can complement or replace some destructive tests.

Abstract

The present work addressed the challenges of identifying applicable Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques suitable for inspection and materials characterization techniques for Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) parts. With the view of transferring WAAM to the industry and qualifying the manufacturing process for applications such as structural components, the quality of the produced parts needs to be assured. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to review the main NDT techniques and assess the capability of detecting WAAM defects, for inspection either in a monitoring, in-process or post-process scenario. Radiography and ultrasonic testing were experimentally tested on reference specimens in order to compare the techniques capabilities. Metallographic, hardness and electrical conductivity analysis were also applied to the same specimens for material characterization. Experimental outcomes prove that typical WAAM defects can be detected by the referred techniques. The electrical conductivity measurement may complement or substitute some destructive methods used in AM processing.