AccScience Publishing / MSAM / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/MSAM026110018
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Influence of gas metal arc welding-based wire arc additive manufacturing deposition modes on the hardness, wear, and corrosion behavior of Al5356 walls

Eneko Villabona1 ,  Fernando Veiga1* ,  Alfredo Suárez2 ,  Eider Aldalur2 ,  Pedro Rivero1,3
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1 Department of Engineering, ETSIIIT, Public University of Navarra, Campus Arrosadía, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
2 Advanced Manufacturing Department, TECNALIA, Basque Research and Technology Alliance, San Sebastián, Spain
3 Institute for Advanced Materials and Mathematics (INAMAT2), Public University of Navarra, Campus Arrosadía, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
MSAM, 026110018 https://doi.org/10.36922/MSAM026110018
Received: 11 March 2026 | Revised: 16 April 2026 | Accepted: 21 April 2026 | Published online: 21 May 2026
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Large Format Additive Manufacturing (LFAM))
© 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

Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a promising technique for producing large-scale aluminum components, although the deposition mode strongly affects thermal history, microstructure, and defect formation. This work investigates the influence of three gas metal arc welding (GMAW)-based WAAM modes (pulsed GMAW, cold arc, and pulsed alternating current [AC]) on the microstructure, hardness, wear, and corrosion behavior of Al5356 walls. Differences in heat input and arc characteristics led to variations in grain size and porosity. Pulsed AC showed the largest grain size and the lowest porosity; pulsed GMAW showed intermediate grain size and the highest porosity; and cold arc exhibited the finest microstructure with intermediate porosity. Magnesium segregation at grain boundaries was observed in all conditions, with possible formation of β (Al3Mg2) phase under localized thermal exposure. Hardness values were similar for all samples, although pulsed AC exhibited slightly lower and more homogeneous hardness due to its coarser microstructure. Tribological behavior showed no clear differences among deposition modes. Electrochemical testing revealed that pulsed AC provided the best corrosion resistance, attributed to its reduced porosity and lower grain boundary density, which limits intergranular attack. Overall, deposition mode primarily influences microstructure and corrosion behavior, while its effect on wear performance is limited under the studied conditions.

Keywords
Wire arc additive manufacturing
Al5356
Microstructure
Porosity
Intergranular corrosion
Heat input
Wear behavior
Funding
This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) under the project FactorIA (grant number PLEC2024- 011165), with additional support from the European Union through the 2ª convocatoria clásica de proyectos del programa POCTEFA 2021–2027 project SURFAV EFA239/06.
Conflict of interest
Fernando Veiga is an Editorial Board Member of this journal and Guest Editor of this special issue, but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. The other authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Materials Science in Additive Manufacturing, Electronic ISSN: 2810-9635 Published by AccScience Publishing
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