Abstract
Electroslag Additive Manufacturing (ESAM), a new high-throughput additive manufacturing (AM) method that combines Electroslag Strip Cladding (ESC) and wire arc AM (WAAM) is introduced. This combination enables the high deposition rate of ESC (more than 20 kg/h with a 60 mm strip electrode) to benefit from the precise geometric control of WAAM. As a precursor to ESAM, the ESC process is investigated in an AM context independently by evaluating both direct and staggered bead-stacking strategies and analyzing the microstructural and mechanical properties of each. This is followed by an ESAM demonstration producing an annular geometry by pairing ESC with gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), wherein GTAW is utilized to construct annular walls that are subsequently infilled via ESC. The microstructure and mechanical properties of ESC-only AM are compared with that of the ESAM method and it is shown that printed integral retaining walls do not impact the resulting mechanical properties of ESAM. Furthermore, results indicate that ESAM-produced Alloy 625 parts exhibit tensile properties on par with cast counterparts, supporting the method's scalability to components exceeding one metric ton, and possibly making ESAM a viable future manufacturing approach for competitive production of large-scale components currently manufactured by casting and forging.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 100343 |
| Journal | Additive Manufacturing Letters |
| Volume | 17 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2026 |
Funding
The authors thank ARC Specialties for the collaborative research and dialogue that enabled this work, and ORNL colleagues Troy Lockhart and John Potter for their technical support. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, United States, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technology Office, United States, under CRADA NFE-24-10361. This work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), United States under the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships program. Research was performed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, United States , Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technology Office, United States , under CRADA NFE-24-10361. This work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), United States under the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships program. Research was performed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).
Keywords
- Additive manufacturing
- Electroslag
- Near net shape
- Wire arc additive manufacturing