Increasing the efficiency of electric arc welding of the SV-AK5 alloy due to hybridization of technologies

The paper shows the relevance of the development of hybrid technologies, based on the combination of electric arc volumetric surfacing with other external influences on the deposited layers: the use of several energy sources (laser and electric arc), a combination of surfacing and shaping processes (deformation, shot blasting, laser hardening, etc.). The paper evaluated the potential possibility of creating a hybrid technology “electro-arc surfacing - magnetic pulse treatment (MPT)” for obtaining samples from the Sv-AK5 alloy (Al-Si system). The complex for the implementation of hybrid technology was created on the basis of a collaborative robot-manipulator and a welding inverter semi-automatic. Designs have been developed, 2 types of single-turn inductors combined with a welding torch for magnetic pulse processing of deposited samples have been manufactured and tested: an inductor in the form of an open torus covering the nozzle of the welding torch, and a rectangular inductor coupled in series with the welding torch. By means of computer modeling and field experiments, it was found that the most effective is an inductor in the form of an open torus covering the nozzle of a welding torch. An inductor of this type delivers magnetic pulse discharges directly into the formed liquid bath during the surfacing process. The surfacing was carried out in the environment of argon protective gas. The main variable parameter of the MPT was the discharge energy W in the range 180÷518 J with the same number of pulses (20 pcs.). The study of the microstructure of the prototypes showed that MPT has a significant modifying effect on the dendrites of the α-Al alloy Sv-AK5, obtained by the hybrid process «electric arc surfacing - magnetic pulse treatment». Structural defects were not detected during metallographic studies of the deposited samples.