Abstract:
To address the problems of hot cracking and thermal damage easily occurring in 7075 aluminum alloy during traditional fusion welding additive manufacturing, a continuous wire-fed friction stir additive manufacturing technology was developed. Based on a self-developed additive manufacturing tool, a 20-layer AA7075 component was successfully fabricated, and the microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-deposited and heat-treated AA7075 were investigated. The results indicate that compared with traditional fusion welding additive manufacturing technology, continuous wire-fed friction stir additive manufacturing technology can fabricate high-quality aluminum alloy components with no cracks, dense microstructures, and uniform properties; the design of the material delivery screw groove and the frustum-shaped pin of the additive manufacturing tool effectively promotes the tight bonding between deposited layers; the maximum tensile strength of the as-deposited 7075 aluminum alloy is 345 MPa; although abnormal grain growth occurs after heat treatment, the mechanical properties are significantly improved, and the tensile strength in the traveling direction reaches 535 MPa. This provides a new scheme for low-cost, high-efficiency, and high-quality forming of complex structures of 7075 aluminum alloy.