Department of Electrothermal Processes of Materials Treatment

The Department has modern equipment, additionally fitted with modules of our own design, which include plasmatrons, power sources and manipulators, and orientation tables for performing additive deposition with a high accuracy, controlled by proprietary software. Available equipment is sufficient for conducting a wide range of operations on plasma welding cutting, coating spraying and atomization of wire and powder materials.

RESEARCH-TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM
of additive welding technologies for preparation of productions for 3D printing of large-sized
structures of flying vehicles and special equipment

General view of research-technology platform for 3D-printing of large-sized cylindrical shells and long complex-profile structures from aluminium and titanium alloys and functionally graded metal-matrix materials at the E.O.Paton Electric Welding Institute

Composition of research-technology platform:

Robotic complex for 3D printing of long (up to 6 m and higher) cylindrical (0.1…3 m in diameter) shells with elements and internal stiffeners of a complex shape (including bodies of various types of rockets)

Robotic line for 3D printing of long (up to 6 m and more) complex-profile structures from aluminium and titanium alloys for aircraft applications – stringers, spars, frames, center section beams, structural frame parts with internal stiffeners

Robotic line for welding along rectilinear and curvilinear trajectories of long (up to 4 – 6 m) structures of greater thickness (up to 150-200 mm) from high-strength alloys (bodies and structures of deep-sea vehicles, armoured vehicles of the new generation, critical parts of gas-turbine engines)

Examples of advanced technologies presented on the research-technology platform:
1. 1. New technology of plasma (microplasma) welding and additive deposition (3D printing) of 3D products from aluminium, magnesium and other light alloys at asymmetric current of different polarity with independent selection of alternating current waveform in the half-periods of straight and reverse polarity, application of pulsed supply of plasmaforming gas and filler wire.
2. 2. New technology of welding and additive deposition (3D printing) of alloyed and high-strength steels, titanium and nickel alloys, as well as refractory metals by a DC plasma arc with superposition of frequency modulation of current, magnetic control of the arc and filler wire preheating by alternating current.
3. 3. New designs of welding plasmatrons with the capability of feeding up to four filler wires to increase the productivity and control the chemical composition and properties of printed metal, and to manufacture products from graded materials.

4. 4. New technology of highly productive hybrid process of plasma-arc “plasma-MIG/MAG” additive deposition (3D printing).
5. 5. New hybrid highly productive technology of additive deposition and welding with simultaneous application of solid and flux-cored wires, as well as granules (0.05-1 mm size) and nanomodifiers.
6. 6. Upgraded technology of robotic narrow-gap multipass nonconsumable electrode welding along rectilinear and curvilinear trajectories of long structures from titanium and other nonmagnetic alloys with a controlled magnetic field.