State-of-the-Art Progress and Outlook in Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of Magnesium Alloys
HUANG Ke(), LI Xinzhi, FANG Xuewei, LU Bingheng
School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Cite this article:
HUANG Ke, LI Xinzhi, FANG Xuewei, LU Bingheng. State-of-the-Art Progress and Outlook in Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of Magnesium Alloys. Acta Metall Sin, 2025, 61(3): 397-419.
Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a promising additive manufacturing process known for its high deposition efficiency and cost effectiveness, making it well-suited for the large-scale production of complex, lightweight magnesium alloy components. Despite these advantages, magnesium alloys present challenges owing to their low melting and boiling points and high thermal conductivity, which result in nonuniform microstructures, metallurgical defects, and residual stresses in WAAM-manufactured components. These issues notably reduce the reliability and service life of the components, making it difficult to meet the demanding requirements of high-end equipment applications. It presents a critical challenge that must be addressed. This review outlines the advantages and technical challenges of WAAM, providing a comprehensive overview of recent domestic and international research in five key areas: process types, forming quality, metallurgical defects, microstructure characteristics, and overall performance. In addition, the present study summarizes in situ modulation strategies besed on the liquid melt pool and solid interlayer, as well as heat treatment and surface strengthening methods, providing a theoretical framework for improving the quality of large and complex magnesium alloy components. Finally, this review discusses future trends and research directions in WAAM for magnesium alloys, with a focus on composition design, in situ modulation, post-treatment processes, and performance evaluation.
Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(523B2049);National Natural Science Foundation of China(52275374);National Natural Science Foundation of China(52205414)
Corresponding Authors:
HUANG Ke, professor, Tel: 13519183706, E-mail: ke.huang@xjtu.edu.cn
Fig.2 Technical challenges of WAAM Mg alloys (a) metallurgical defects (BD—building direction, TD—travelling direction, ND—normal direction)[21,22] (b) inhomogeneous microstructure (MPC—melt pool center, HAZ—heat affected zone, MPB—melt pool boundary)[23,24] (c) mechanical properties[24,26]
Fig.3 Schematics of various WAAM technologies[27] (a) gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) (b) plasma arc welding (PAW) (c) gas metal arc welding (GMAW) (d) cold metal transfer (CMT)
Fig. 4 Effect of printing parameters on the morphology of deposited single track[28]
Fig.5 Surface morphologies of single-pass multilayer deposited WE43 alloy components fabricated by four CMT arc modes[19](a) top view (b-e) front views of CMT (b), CMT-Pulse (CMT-P) (c), CMT-Advance (CMT-ADV) (d), and CMT-Pulse + Advance (CMT-PADV) (e)
Fig.6 Distribution of defects in thin-walled parts of GW63K Mg alloy fabricated by WAAM[21]
Fig.7 Distributions of defects in thin-walled parts of AZ31 Mg alloy fabricated by WAAM[29] (a) 100 A, 10 V, 400 mm/min (b) 100 A, 10 V, 600 mm/min (c) 100 A, 10 V, 800 mm/min
Fig.8 Distributions of oxide inclusions in the WE43 Mg alloy fabricated by WAAM[37] (a) the 1st layer (b) the 16th layer (c) the 24th layer
Fig.9 Grain sizes and crystallographic orientations of the AZ31 Mg alloy fabricated by hot-roll (a), GTAW (b, d), and semi-continuously cast (c)[35,38]
Fig.10 Precipitation phase characteristics in the GW-series Mg alloy fabricated by cast (a), WAAM (b), and laser directed energy deposition (LDED) (c)[26]
Fig.11 Grain sizes sand crystallographic orientations in the AZ31 (a)[24] and GW102K (b)[26] Mg alloys fabricated by WAAM
Fig.12 Schematics showing the microstructure evolution with layer deposition during WAAM of WE43 alloy[37] (a) the 1st layer (b) the 4th layer (c) the 15th layer (d) the top layer
Alloy
Deposition process
State
Tensile direction
YS
MPa
UTS
MPa
EL
%
Ref.
Mg-3.12Al-0.84Zn-0.2Mn
GTAW
AD
H
109
223
20.3
[35]
V
95
191
13.8
AZ31
GTAW
AD
H
52
162
11.8
[42]
V
132
201
17.2
Mg-2.98Al-0.93Zn-0.38Mn
GTAW
AD
H
95
239
21
[29]
Mg-2.54Al-0.67Zn-0.44Mn
CMT
AD
H
85
226
28.3
[31]
V
126
211
17.2
Mg-2.54Al-0.67Zn-0.44Mn
CMT
AD
H
71
152
7.5
[30]
V
132
211
10.6
Mg-2.5Al-0.82Zn-0.35Mn
CMT
AD
H
120
224
23.5
[43]
V
113
217
20.8
Mg-6.02Al-0.15Mn-0.88Zn
GTAW
AD
-
105
260
16
[36]
Mg-7.6Al-0.25Mn-0.36Zn-0.15Ca-0.2Y
GTAW
AD
H
-
288
15
[44]
V
-
224
13
T6
H
-
292
16
V
-
283
14
Mg-8.5Al-0.45Zn-0.03Mn-0.15Ca-0.2Y
GTAW
AD
H
146
308
15
[32,45]
V
119
237
12
AZ91D
GTAW
AD
H
113
244
11.9
[40]
V
108
244
11.5
Mg-8.99Al-0.65Zn-0.26Mn
CMT
AD
H
-
250
17.5
[33]
V
-
245
16.3
Mg-4.26Gd-2.06Y-1.18Zn-0.36Zr
CMT
AD
H
123
224
12.7
[23]
V
121
224
11.4
Mg-4.26Gd-2.06Y-1.18Zn-0.36Zr
CMT
T4
H
117
234
17.7
[23]
V
114
229
16.0
T6
H
157
288
17.1
V
157
285
16.2
Mg-6.3Gd-2.6Y-0.4Zr
GTAW
AD
H
150
232
8.3
[21]
V
151
237
8.9
T6
V
218
345
5.2
Mg-5.9Gd-2.8Y-0.7Zr
CMT
AD
H
162
263
12.2
[39]
V
159
258
12.0
T4
-
153
257
17.9
T5
H
227
350
5.5
V
220
238
5.7
T6
-
199
320
6.7
Mg-10.22Gd-2.14Y-0.43Zr
CMT
AD
H
149
247
8.1
[26]
V
151
240
6.1
T4
H
129
238
14.6
V
132
241
14.4
T6
H
239
371
4.0
V
243
367
3.9
GWZ1031K
GTAW
AD
H
154
271
8.7
[25]
V
150
247
3.3
T4
H
170
287
16.5
V
168
285
12.7
T6
H
215
331
2.1
V
214
337
2.7
Mg-4.08Y-2.11Nd-1.07Gd-0.54Zr
GTAW
AD
H
187
257
5.2
[37]
V
199
271
8.1
Mg-3.82Y-2.46Nd-0.56Zr
CMT
AD
H
153
233
10.4
[41]
V
146
211
10.3
Table 1 Room-temperature tensile properties of the as-deposited and heat-treated Mg alloys fabricated by WAAM under optimized process parameters[21,23,25,26,29-33,35-37,39-45]
Fig.13 Comparisons of potentiodynamic polarization curves for AZ31 Mg alloys prepared by WAAM process and conventional process
Fig.14 Damping capacities of the semi-continuously cast and GTAW-processed AZ31 Mg alloys as a function of strain amplitude[38] (Q—energy dissipation efficiency) (a) 1 × 10-5-2 × 10-3 (b) 4.4 × 10-4-1.5 × 10-3
Fig.15 In situ modulation programs for other metallic materials during the WAAM process (TIG—tungsten inert gas) (a) laser-arc hybrid additive manufacturing[50] (b) magnetic arc oscillation[49] (c) in situ rolling[51]
Fig.16 Current signals from ultrasonic frequency pulsed arc[52] (VP—variable polarity, UFPVP—ultrasonic frequency pulsed variable polarity, UFP—ultrasonic frequency pulsed)
Fig.18 Effect of interlayer dwell time on the thermal profile[55] (Insets show the topographies of components) (a) without interlayer waiting (b) with interlayer dwell time of 60 s
Fig.20 Schematics illustrating the mechanisms of microstructure evolution during WAAM process and heat treatment[26] (a) non-equilibrium solidification process (b) as-deposited sample (c) solution treated sample (d) ageing treatment at 150 oC for 96 h (e) ageing treatment at 200 oC for 58 h (f) ageing treatment at 250 oC for 16 h
Fig.21 Representative TEM characterization results of the laser shock peening treated specimen at depths of 10 μm (a, b), 30 μm (c, d), 100 μm (e, f), and 200 μm (g, h)[48] (NC—nanocrystallisation, SPD—severe plastic deformation, MPD—medium plastic deformation, DT—dislocation tangle, MT—mechanical twin, DW—dislocation wall)
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