International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 1063–1069

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmactool

3D welding and milling: part II—optimization of the 3D welding

process using an experimental design approach
Yong-Ak Songa,*,1, Sehyung Parka, Soo-Won Chaeb
a
Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), CAD/CAM Research Center, P.O. Box 131, Cheongryang, Seoul, South Korea
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Anam-Dong Sungbuk-Gu, Seoul, South Korea
Received 4 August 2004; accepted 19 November 2004
Available online 11 January 2005

Abstract
A process of combined additive and subtractive techniques for the direct freeform fabrication of metallic prototypes and tools is being
developed by the authors. This hybrid process, called ‘3D welding and milling’, uses gas metal arc welding (GMAW) as an additive and
conventional milling as a subtractive technique, thereby exploiting the advantages of both processes. In this paper, the results of the
optimization of the deposition process using a statistical approach as well as the result of plastic injection molding with the inserts fabricated
by this hybrid process are described. The result proves the applicability of the 3D welding and milling process for direct fabrication of
metallic prototypes and tools.
q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Solid freeform fabrication; Rapid prototyping; Rapid tooling; Direct metal fabrication; Taguchi method; Gas metal arc welding

1. Introduction This statistical approach has proved effective for optimizing

different rapid prototyping processes [3–6].
3D welding and milling is a novel freeform fabrication
process and allows the fabrication of metallic prototypes by
combined additive and subtractive techniques. It has been 2. Experimental approach and results
demonstrated that prototypes with simple geometries such as
thin-walled and solid rectangular shapes can be built with this
2.1. Optimization of welding parameters
process [1]. In this paper, we report on our efforts to optimize
the main welding process parameters such as welding voltage
Starting with the single bead experiment, we investigated
U, wire feeding speed vw, distance between the tip of the
the influence of the main process parameters, welding
welding gun and the substrate ds, and shielding gas
voltage U, welding current I, and welding speed vs on the
composition by investigating their influences on the bead
formation of single beads. The suitable welding parameters
geometry and weld spatter. In addition, the influence of bead for a deposition of mild steel (AWS 5.18 70S-6) with a
offset and deposition direction on the tensile strength and 0.9 mm diameter were found to be at a welding voltage UZ
surface hardness has been studied with regard to the 19 V with IZ120 A and a welding speed of vsZ1.2 m/min.
functional testing of freeform-fabricated parts. As an Based on this preliminary test result, the Taguchi method
effective way to accomplish this task, we applied a statistical was applied to optimize the following four welding
method called the Taguchi method, which allows a drastic parameters systematically: welding voltage U, wire feeding
reduction in the number of required experiments [2]. speed vw, distance between the tip of the welding gun and
the substrate ds, and shielding gas composition. The welding
* Corresponding author. Tel.: C1 617 253 8516; fax: C1 617 258 5846.
voltage U and wire feeding speed vw, which together
E-mail address: yongak@mit.edu (Y.-A. Song). determine the welding speed vs, were varied separately
1
Currently affiliated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. while keeping the welding speed constant at vsZ1.2 m/min.
0890-6955/$ - see front matter q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2004.11.022
1064 Y.-A. Song et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 1063–1069

Table 1 long and we repeated each experiment twice at a welding

Experimental factors and factor levels speed of vsZ1.2 m/min. To quantify the spatter formation,
Levels the spatter index i was defined as a quotient of the mass of
Number 1 2 3 spatter ms and the melted wire mw:
Welding voltage U (V) 14 20 26
Spatter index i Z ms =mw (1)
Wire feeding speed vw (m/min) 3 5 8
Ratio of shielding gas The mass of the spatter ms was measured by collecting the
CO2:argon (vol.%) 30:70 20:80 10:90
Distance between tip of nozzle 6 8 10
spatter around the single bead after each deposition and the
and substrate ds (mm) mass of the wire mw was calculated based on the wire feeding
speed vw. The result of this experiment is shown in Table 2.
According to the ANOVA (analysis of variance) shown
In our experiment, the amount of weld spatter and bead in Table 3, welding voltage U, wire feeding speed vw and
width were defined as the two main functions. Since the distance ds have a high impact on the spatter formation
process-inherent spatter on the deposited part must be with the SS numbers above 20, whereas the shielding gas
removed after deposition, it is correlated to the quality of composition shows only a negligible influence on the
deposited beads. As the second criterion, we selected a spatter formation with a SS number of 2.275. As for bead
consistent bead width because this enables a smooth layer width, the welding voltage and wire feeding speed also
without a void between the beads. have a significant influence, whereas the distance between
Table 1 shows three different levels of the above- the tip of welding gun and the shielding gas composition
mentioned four factors in our systematic investigation. The show a relatively small influence with a SS number of
range of each factor was based on the results of our previous 0.959.
experiment. In Fig. 1, the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios are calculated
Using the three-level orthogonal array as shown in and plotted against the process parameters. The S/N ratio,
Table 2, the total number of required experiments was which is a measure of the variation present, depends on the
reduced from 43Z64 to 9. The deposited bead was 100 mm type of characteristic being evaluated [1]. The equation for

Table 2
Three-level orthogonal array with results

No. U (V) vw (m/min) CO2 con- ds (mm) Spatter index Bead width
tent (vol.%)
Test 1 Test 2 S/N ratio Test 1 Test 2 S/N ratio
1 14 3 30 6 0.11 0.12 18.78 3.1 3.0 32.7
2 14 5 20 8 0.09 0.01 23.87 3.7 3.8 34.5
3 14 8 10 10 0.13 0.15 17.22 4.1 4.2 35.5
4 20 3 20 10 0.03 0.04 29.22 4.6 4.7 36.5
5 20 5 10 6 0.01 0.02 37.62 5.1 5.0 37.1
6 20 8 30 8 0.02 0.03 32.13 5.2 5.3 37.4
7 26 3 10 8 0.12 0.14 17.66 3.7 3.8 34.5
8 26 5 30 10 0.09 0.10 20.67 3.9 4.0 34.9
9 26 8 20 6 0.08 0.08 22.05 4.2 4.3 35.6

S/N ratio, signal-to-noise ratio.

Table 3
ANOVA results

SS V F
Weld spatter Welding voltage 335.337 167.669 147.34a
Wire feed rate 46.821 23.410 20.57b
Distance 21.561 10.780 9.47c
Shielding gas 2.275 1.138 –
T 405.994 – –
Bead width Welding voltage 12.092 6.046 25.218a
Wire feed rate 3.934 1.967 8.204b
Distance and shielding gas 0.959 0.240 –
T 16.985 – –

SS, sum of squares; V, variance; T, T-test.

a
At least 99% confidence.
b
95% confidence.
c
90% confidence.
 Y.-A. Song et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 1063–1069 1065

calculating S/N ratio of ‘higher is better’ characteristic is:

!
1X r
1
S=NHB Z K10 log (2)
r iZ1 y2i

At UZ20 V, both the weld spatter and the bead width

reach maximum S/N ratios. Accordingly, the welding
voltage was set to UZ20 V for all further deposition
processes. With the same argument, the wire feeding
speed was set to vwZ5 m/min. Since the distance ds only
minimally influences the width, it was set to dsZ6 mm to
minimize spatter formation. According to the ANOVA,
the shielding gas composition also has a negligible
influence on spatter formation and bead width. Therefore,
the shielding gas ratio of CO2 to argon was set to 30:70 in
Fig. 1. S/N ratios of four factors. order to set the percentage of less expensive CO2 gas as
high as possible.
For a confirmation experiment with the above-mentioned
parameters, we calculated the confidence intervals of the
Table 4
spatter index and bead width with the Eq. (3):
Result of confirmation experiment sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 ffi
1 1
Number of test Spatter index Bead width (mm) CI Z Fa;1;ne ,Ve , C (3)
neff r
1 0.011 4.9
2 0.012 5.0 where
3 0.009 4.8
Average 0.0107 4.9
F F-value
U, 20 V; vw, 5 m/min; ds, 6 mm; CO2:Ar, 30:70. a risk, confidenceZ1Krisk

Fig. 2. Building strategies for a layer and multiple layers.

1066 Y.-A. Song et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 1063–1069

Table 5
Result of L8 orthogonal array experiment

No. Direction of deposition Direction of deposition Bead offset Hardness Tensile strength
within layer between layers (8) (mm)
HV SN MPa SN
1 One-way 0 2.5 260 48.30 61.46 35.77
2 One-way 0 3.5 264 48.43 62.50 35.92
3 One-way 90 2.5 237 47.49 52.08 34.33
4 One-way 90 3.5 228 47.16 53.02 34.49
5 Zigzag 0 2.5 238 47.53 60.42 35.62
6 Zigzag 0 3.5 275 48.79 61.98 35.84
7 Zigzag 90 2.5 240 47.60 52.08 34.33
8 Zigzag 90 3.5 244 47.75 53.33 34.54
Variance 261.4 – 2346.65 –

n1 degree of freedom for the numeratorZ1 This validates that the welding parameters as well as their
n2 degree of freedom for errorZne levels were chosen properly.
Ve error variance
neff number of tests 2.2. Optimization of deposition parameters
r sample size of confirmation experiment
When depositing single beads next to each other to fill a
The confidence interval of the spatter index was layer, significant process parameters are the bead offset,
estimated as follows:
A 2;20 V Z 0:024; B 2;5 m=min Z 0:052; D 1;6 mm Z 0:069;

T Z 0:075

m Z A 2;20 V C B 2;5 m=min C D 1;6 mm K 2,T Z K0:005

sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 
1 1
CI Z F:10;1;11 ,Ve , C
neff r
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 ffi
7 1
CI Z 3:23,0:207, C Z 0:695
18 3

m^ K CI! m! m^ C CI

0! m! 0:690
The confidence interval of the bead width was estimated
as follows:
A 2;20 V Z 5:0; B 2;5 m=min Z 4:3; T Z 4:2

m Z A 2;20 V C B 2;5 m=min K T Z 5:1

sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 
1 1
CI Z F:10;1;13 ,Ve , C
neff r
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 ffi
5 1
CI Z 3:14,0:077, C Z 0:38
18 3

4:72! m! 5:48
According to the result of the confirmation experiment
in Table 4, the values of the spatter index and bead width Fig. 3. 3D welded and milled tension test specimens and applied deposition
are within the estimated 90% confidence intervals. strategies.
 Y.-A. Song et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 1063–1069 1067

Table 6 fabricated 24 rectangular tension test specimens with eight

Result of analysis of variance (ANOVA) for tensile strength sets of parameters according to the orthogonal array of L8 in
Factor SS f V F0 P (%) Table 5. The samples of the 3D welded and milled tension
Deposition 0.195 1 0.195 1.421a
0.035 test specimens as well as the applied deposition strategies
direction are shown in Fig. 3. In case of the specimens built with an
within layer alternate angle of 908 between the layers, the deposition
Deposition 160.653 1 160.653 1168.915a 97.717 direction was alternated between the long and short axis of
direction
between
the specimen after each layer (see Fig. 3a). At an alternate
layers angle of 08, the single beads were deposited only parallel to
Bead offset 2.868 1 2.868 20.868a 1.662 the long axis of the tensile specimen (see Fig. 3b).
e 0.549 4 0.137 0.586 According to the ANOVA, the deposition parameters
T 164.266 7 100
hardly affect the surface hardness, while the alternating
CC
: 95% confidence level; C: 90% confidence level. deposition direction between the layers has the highest
a
99% confidence level. influence on the tensile strength with a percent contribution
of 97.7%, Table 6. Compared to this, the influence of the
the direction of deposition in the layer and between the other deposition parameters on the tensile strength is
layers. In the layer, the beads can be deposited either relatively low with a percent contribution of 1.66% for
unidirectionally or in zigzag mode. Between the layers, the bead offset and 0.035% for deposition direction within the
direction of deposition can be either unidirectional or layer.
alternating by 908, Fig. 2. To investigate the influence of This result proves that the relative orientation of the
these three deposition parameters on the hardness and deposited beads to the load direction determines the tensile
tensile strength, which are the relevant mechanical proper- strength of deposited structures. Consequently, the selection
ties in view of functional testing of the prototypes, we of appropriate deposition direction between the layers

Fig. 4. Process flow from the CAD model of the inserts to the injection molded parts.
1068 Y.-A. Song et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 1063–1069

determines the mechanical properties of the freeform-
fabricated parts significantly. Since most of the freeform-
fabricated parts are loaded in several directions when used,
the deposition direction for all the following processes was
set to alternating deposition by 908 after each layer. The
alternating deposition direction brings a further advantage
that it eliminates any void of the previous layer, thereby
increasing the surface quality and density of the layer.
Within each layer, the zigzag type of deposition with a bead
offset of 3.5 mm was applied in order to reduce the
deposition time.
3. Fabrication of injection molds with the 3D welding
and milling process
Utilizing the optimized welding and deposition para-
meters, test parts were built for demonstration. For a test
part, injection mold inserts were selected to demonstrate the
capability of the 3D welding and milling process for rapid
tooling. Rapid tooling for thermoplastic components in
medium and large quantities is of great interest to the
consumer goods industry [7]. The example shown in Fig. 4
is a pair of core and cavity mold inserts for injection

Fig. 5. Injection molding of cooling fans with the 3D welded and milled inserts.
 Y.-A. Song et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 1063–1069
molding of a lamp cover. The size of the mold inserts is
90!175!10 mm (W!L!H). With a 1 mm layer thick-
ness at a hatching distance of 3.5 mm, the deposition
process for the core consisting of 10 layers took 0.7 h and
the subsequent surface finishing took 1.3 h. In case of the
cavity with 14 layers, it took 1.5 h for the deposition and
2.5 h for the surface machining. We then performed an
injection molding test with polypropylene at 230 8C and
15 MPa, and found no visible damage on the mold inserts
after 100 shots.
Another freeform-fabricated test piece with more com-
plex geometry is shown in Fig. 5. To build the core and
cavity inserts of a cooling fan, a layer thickness of 0.8 mm
was selected at a hatching distance of 3.5 mm. An offset of
0.3 mm was added to the overall dimensions of the inserts
for the subsequent surface finishing. The core insert
consisting of 33 layers required 5 h for the deposition and
6 h for the subsequent surface finishing operation. As for the
cavity with 38 layers, the deposition took 15 h because it
had a larger area to be filled with metal and 16 h for the
subsequent surface finishing. As shown in Fig. 5, the test
injection molding ran successfully and up to 100 fans could
be molded with polypropylene. In sum, the successful
fabrication of the mold inserts and their use in injection
molding demonstrate the success of 3D welding and milling
process in building functional tools directly.
4. Conclusions
A statistical approach has been applied to investigate the
influence of the main process parameters on the bead
quality, characterized by bead width and spatter formation.
Using the Taguchi method, the optimal welding voltage,
wire feeding speed, distance between the tip of the welding
gun and the substrate and shielding gas composition have
been identified. Among the parameters, the welding voltage
and wire feeding speed have greater influences on the bead
quality than the shielding gas composition and the distance
between the tip of the welding gun and the substrate. Using
the ANOVA, the optimal welding parameters have been set
as follows: welding voltage UZ20 V, wire feeding speed
vwZ5 m/min, distance dsZ6 mm, and shielding gas ratio of
CO2 to Ar 30:70. Using the same statistical approach, it has
been shown that the alternating deposition direction
1069
between the layers influences the tensile strength signifi-
cantly. As far as the deposition direction within the layer is
concerned, no visible difference is ascertained between the
deposition in only one direction and in zigzag mode.
The successful fabrication of metallic mold inserts and
test injection molding demonstrates the applicability of the
3D welding and milling process for rapid tooling. The
combination of welding and milling can offer greater
flexibility in terms of manufacturable features such as
conformal cooling channels and multimaterial parts. Those
features can increase the performance of molds in injection
molding. Future experiments are required to ascertain how
competitive the 3D welding and milling process is
compared with the conventional milling process in terms
of manufacturing time. To gain competitiveness, the focus
of further development should be on increasing the
deposition speed and the accuracy of the deposition. In
addition, cost effectiveness and capital equipment cost,
material yield and any environmental aspects must be also
considered.
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