This research developed a CAM S/W, which generates an adaptive 5-axis tool path, to optimize the quality of Direct Energy Deposition (DED) 3D printing. After reconstructing part shapes and generating printing paths in each shape, the path simulation including automatic collision detection was implemented. Productivity and printing quality were improved through equipment improvement and process optimization. In addition, high-quality parts with desirable physical and mechanical properties were produced by generating an adaptive 5-axis path specialized in the printing process that reflects various physical phenomena and monitoring results. Finally, the performance of CAM S/W was verified through the production of prototypes for industrial components.

The directed energy deposition (DED) process has been used for enhancement of the mechanical property, repair, and part manufacturing. Post-process machining is required due to the low quality of the DED printed part. Even if the part is printed under similar conditions, dimensional variations occur frequently due to the accumulation of small printing errors. Due to tool overfeeding and the occurrence of the non-cutting area due to this variation, the quality of the finished part is not guaranteed. Therefore, the post-process machining should be carried out considering the actual printed part shape. Herein, the flexible post-process machining is proposed by utilizing the shape information through the on-machine measurement (OMM) of DED printed parts. The process margin for machining the design shape is calculated through the OMM of the geometric dimension of the printed part. Feedrate (Override) and machining path of each printing parts are flexibly determined depending on the process margin. This technique is applied to the pocket shape part printed with STS 316L material, and the rough and finish machining conditions are established. Rough machining time was reduced by adjusting the feedrate flexibly. The final form of accuracy and surface roughness were achieved under 30 and 0.25 μm, respectively.

It is compelling to realize that the additive manufactured part using wire feeding type directed energy deposition (DED) process is subjected to undesired thermal effects, and induced residual stress during the manufacturing process. In order to improve the quality of the manufactured part, the distributions of temperature and residual stress have to be understood to manage the results of the processing of these materials. The objective of this paper is to investigate the influence of the angle of corner deposition on the distributions of temperature and residual stress of the Ti-6Al-4V deposited bead, and the substrate via thermo-mechanical finite element analyses (FEAs). In the same fashion, the formation of the heat affected zone (HAZ) and the stress influenced region (SIR) are estimated from the measured results of the FEAs. Equally important, it can be stated that from the estimated HAZ and SIR regions, the overlapping of undesired thermal effects and residual stress between two beads fabricated by the wire feeding type DED process can be avoided at the design stage.