AccScience Publishing / ESAM / Volume 2 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.36922/ESAM026370021
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Regulation mechanism of heat input on in situ tempering and precipitation behavior of wire arc additively manufactured 1,600 MPa low-alloy ultra-high-strength steel

Kun Li1,2,3 ,  Shuang Jun Zhang1,3 ,  Ziche Li1,3,4 ,  Shixin Xu5 ,  Xuru Hou4 ,  Peng Li6 ,  Xiangrui Wan5 ,  Liang Zhu1,3* ,  Chen Ji1,3 ,  Yang Cao4 ,  Lin Zhao4* ,  Chengyong Ma4 ,  Zhiling Tian4,7
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1 State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmission for Advanced Equipment, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing , China
2 Department of Advanced Interdisciplinary Manufacturing, Institute of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Chongqing University, Chongqing , China
3 Chongqing Key Laboratory of High-performance Structural Additive Manufacturing, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing , China
4 Department of Metal Materials Research, Central Iron and Steel Research Institute Group, Beijing , China
5 CISDI Research & Development Co., Ltd., Chongqing , China
6 Department of Additive Manufacturing Materials, MCC Kunyuan (Chongqing) Metal Materials Research Institute Co., Ltd., Chongqing , China
7 The Chinese Society for Metals, Beijing , China
ESAM 2026, 2(4), 026370021 https://doi.org/10.36922/ESAM026370021
Received: 7 September 2026 | Revised: 23 September 2026 | Accepted: 8 October 2026 | Published online: 22 October 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

With surging demand for lightweight, high-strength metal components in high-end equipment and large-scale engineering structures, additive manufacturing of low-alloy ultra-high-strength steel (LUHSS) has become a hot research topic. Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) shows remarkable potential for fabricating large LUHSS components; however, repetitive thermal cycles can trigger in situ tempering, significantly affecting carbide evolution and mechanical properties. To address this, this study employed a cold metal transfer plus pulse (CMT+P)-based WAAM process to fabricate thin-walled LUHSS specimens under gradient heat input conditions (3.73, 7.37, and 11.8 kJ/cm) and systematically characterized their mechanical properties and microstructure. The results indicate that increasing heat input enlarges the melt pool and weld bead dimensions, while excessive heat input exacerbates oxide inclusion precipitation and compromises forming quality; the deposited microstructure consists primarily of lamellar martensite, retained austenite, and dispersed carbides. Heat input can precisely control the in situ tempering effect, driving the gradual transformation of carbides from pure Cr23C6 to a coexistence of Cr23C6 and Cr3C, ultimately forming Cr7C3. Grain coarsening and dislocation recovery weaken the material’s strengthening effect. At a heat input of 3.73 kJ/cm, the specimen exhibited excellent strength–ductility synergy and near-isotropic characteristics, with tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation of 1,529 MPa, 1,272 MPa, and 12.3%, respectively. This study shows how heat input-induced in situ tempering regulates precipitation behavior and the mechanical properties of WAAM-formed LUHSS.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Wire arc additive manufacturing
Low-alloy ultra-high-strength steel
Heat input
Microstructure evolution
Funding
Authors acknowledge the support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (52475324, 52505341), Fundamental Research Founds for the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFB3408003). Central Universities (2024IAIS-QN012), Chongqing Technology Innovation and Application Development Special Major Project (CSTB2024TIAD-STX0016), New Chongqing Youth Innovative Talents Project (CSTB2024NSCQ-QCXMX0082), Innovation Support Program for Overseas Returnees in Chongqing (cx2023061), Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing (CSTB2024NSCQ-MSX1072), Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2025AFD095), National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2024YFB4609700).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.
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Engineering Science in Additive Manufacturing, Electronic ISSN: 3082-849X Published by AccScience Publishing
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