Investigation on the elastic flexural stiffness of dot-by-dot wire-and-arc additively manufactured stainless steel bars

Among different metal additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, arc-based Directed Energy Deposition, also known as Wire-and-Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), is considered the most suitable for large-scale structural components production. In particular, the WAAM printing strategy referred to as “dot-by-dot” allows the realization of complex 3D lattice forms at the scale of structural steel parts, composed of unitary cells made of slender bars. Nonetheless, the outcomes of this process are still to be properly investigated in terms of their mechanical behavior under various loading conditions. To assess the buckling behavior of WAAM-produced slender bars, extensive effort is requested to properly characterize the main driving aspects, namely the flexural stiffness possibly influenced by mechanical anisotropy induced by the printing process and the influence of the geometrical imperfections. The present work reports the first results of experimental bending tests conducted on vertically printed (i.e. with a fixed build angle equal to 0°) straight dot-by-dot WAAM stainless steel bars, as an initial investigation towards a more comprehensive analysis of the buckling behavior of WAAM slender elements. The results are then interpreted by introducing three approaches of increasing complexity, including two analytical approaches based on a simplified idealization of the real geometry of the bar, and a third approach based on the reconstruction of the real geometry of the bar using advanced numerical simulations and 3D scanning. The three approaches lead to a different appraisal of the influence of the geometrical irregularities on the flexural stiffness of the specimens. The main results of the present study could be utilized to interpret the results of future experimental compressive tests on WAAM slender elements and to develop ad-hoc buckling curves for structural design purposes.