Residual stress distributions in wire-arc directed energy deposited steel tubular parts
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Spinasa, Athina
Meng, Xin
Weber, Ben
Gardner, Leroy
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Wire-arc directed energy deposition (DED-Arc), is a metal 3D printing technology that enables the production of large, intricate steel components with significant potential in structural engineering. The cyclic thermal history inherent to the DED-Arc process induces residual stresses, which can influence the structural performance of fabricated components. This study experimentally investigates residual stress distributions in seven DED-Arc steel tubular specimens fabricated using ER90S-D2 welding wire. These include three square hollow section (SHS) tubes with nominal thicknesses of 3.5 mm, 4.5 mm, and 5.5 mm, two 3.5 mm-thick circular hollow section (CHS) tubes with interpass temperatures of 150 °C and 350 °C and two 8 mm-thick oval sections with active and passive cooling. The sectioning method was used to measure residual stresses in both longitudinal and transverse directions. Released strains were recorded using a Demec gauge and, as an alternative, using digital image correlation (DIC); the results showed generally good agreement, but the accuracy of the DIC results was compromised in the case of large out-of-plane deformations. For the SHS tubes, tensile stresses appeared in the corners and compressive stresses in the middle of the faces in the longitudinal direction, while the transverse direction showed peak tensile stresses at the top and bottom. Similar distributions were observed across the SHS thicknesses, except in the thinnest tube, where local buckling altered the pattern. The CHS tubes exhibited high through-thickness bending stresses linked to interpass temperature, while membrane stresses were negligible. In the oval tubes, active cooling led to slightly higher residual membrane stresses. The presented results and findings offer key insights into the residual stress distributions in DED-Arc tubular parts, serving as a sound basis for model validation and the evaluation of structural performance.
Date Issued
2026-05-01
Date Acceptance
2026-01-25
Citation
Thin-Walled Structures, 2026, 224
ISSN
0263-8231
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Journal / Book Title
Thin-Walled Structures
Volume
224
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
114584
Date Publish Online
2026-01-27