Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference - MAMC 2023

Wire-based Directed Energy Deposition (W-DED) is an often preferred method for the fabrication and repair of large metallic mechanical components because of its high deposition rate and cost-effectiveness. Utilizing higher kinematics for deposition in robotic W-DED facilitates the creation of overhanging structures without the need for additional support structures. However, there is currently no universally accepted solution for toolpath planning for robotic setup that exists in the literature. Therefore, this study introduces a novel framework for computer-aided process planning for multi-axis deposition during robotic W-DED, using already established CAD/CAM systems originally designed for the machining process. The framework initiates with the creation of the virtual robotic cell within the CAD/CAM system. Subsequently, the CAD model is imported into the CAD/CAM environment, and slicing planes are generated. The contours derived during slicing are employed for the generation of multi-axis toolpaths. Moreover, the framework enables the use of nontraditional user-defined toolpath trajectories for deposition. Finally, a generic algorithm for post-processing the generated robotic toolpath is presented. The effectiveness of the proposed framework has been demonstrated through the fabrication of different components using the robotic W-DED process.