The effect of wire feed geometry on electron beam freeform 3D printing of complex-shaped samples from Ti-6Al-4V alloy

The paper is devoted to studying two different ways of obtaining the complex-shaped bell-type samples from the titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V. It is shown that the process of obtaining the samples on a three-axis table is sensitive to the wire feed geometry as depended on four such geometry zones. These zones are characterized by the angles between the wire feed direction and the tangent to the printing path. On the contrary, samples obtained on a rotary four-axis table are not sensitive to the wire feed geometry. Each of the two ways provides formation of its own specific types of the structure and different mechanical characteristics. In this paper, the structure of geometry affected zones is determined and the most optimal way for obtaining the samples is selected.