Open Access
Wall fabrication by direct energy deposition (DED) combining mild steel (ER70) and stainless steel (SS 316L): microstructure and mechanical properties
(MDPI, 2022) Uralde Jiménez, Virginia; Suárez, Alfredo; Aldalur, Eider; Veiga Suárez, Fernando; Ballesteros Egüés, Tomás; Ingeniería; Ingeniaritza
Direct energy deposition is gaining much visibility in research as one of the most adaptable additive manufacturing technologies for industry due to its ease of application and high deposition rates. The possibility of combining these materials to obtain parts with variable mechanical properties is an important task to be studied. The combination of two types of steel, mild steel ER70-6 and stainless steel SS 316L, for the fabrication of a wall by direct energy deposition was studied for this paper. The separate fabrication of these two materials was studied for the microstructurally flawless fabrication of bimetallic walls. As a result of the application of superimposed and overlapped strategies, two walls were fabricated and the microstructure, mechanical properties and hardness of the resulting walls are analyzed. The walls obtained with both strategies present dissimilar regions; the hardness where the most present material is ER70-6 is around 380 HV, and for SS 316L, it is around 180 HV. The average values of ultimate tensile strength (UTS) are 869 and 628 MPa, yield strength (YS) are 584 and 389 MPa and elongation at break are 20% and 36%, respectively, in the cases where we have more ER70-6 in the sample than SS 316L. This indicates an important relationship between the distribution of the materials and their mechanical behavior.
Open Access
Corrosion behavior of additively manufactured steels: a comprehensive review
(Wiley, 2025-03-21) Villabona Gorri, Eneko; Veiga Suárez, Fernando; Rivero Fuente, Pedro J.; Uralde Jiménez, Virginia; Suárez, Alfredo; Ingeniería; Ingeniaritza; Institute for Advanced Materials and Mathematics - INAMAT2; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
Additive manufacturing (AM) is transforming the production of steel components, offering unique advantages such as design freedom and the ability to create complex geometries. This review examines the corrosion behavior of various steel types, including austenitic stainless steels (SS), martensitic SS, duplex SS, low-alloy steels, and maraging steels, produced through AM technologies. In addition, the topic of material hybridization through AM is addressed, which allows for the optimization of the properties of the base materials. While AM often generates finer grain structures, particularly in SS, which enhances corrosion resistance, it can also lead to undesirable phases, precipitates, or defects like porosity that degrade performance. Controlling AM process parameters is crucial to achieving the desired microstructure and optimizing corrosion resistance. The review highlights current knowledge, identifies challenges, and underscores the importance of standardized testing methodologies to enable better cross-study comparisons and guide future advancements in corrosion-resistant AM steels.
Open Access
Methodology for the path definition in multi-layer gas metal arc welding (GMAW)
(MDPI, 2023) Curiel Braco, David; Veiga Suárez, Fernando; Suárez, Alfredo; Villanueva Roldán, Pedro; Ingeniería; Ingeniaritza
The reconstruction of the geometry of weld-deposited materials plays an important role in the control of the torch path in GMAW. This technique, which is classified as a direct energy deposition technology, is experiencing a new emergence due to its use in welding and additive manufacturing. Usually, the torch path is determined by computerised fabrication tools, but these software tools do not consider the geometrical changes along the case during the process. The aim of this work is to adaptively define the trajectories between layers by analysing the geometry and symmetry of previously deposited layers. The novelty of this work is the integration of a profiling laser coupled to the production system, which scans the deposited layers. Once the layer is scanned, the geometry of the deposited bead can be reconstructed and the symmetry in the geometry and a continuous trajectory can be determined. A wall was fabricated under demanding deposition conditions, and a surface quality of around 100 microns and mechanical properties in line with those previously reported in the literature are observed.
Open Access
AI-driven predictive modeling of homogeneous bead geometry for WAAM processes
(Springer, 2025-07-15) Fernández Zabalza, Aitor; Rodríguez Díaz, Álvaro; Veiga Suárez, Fernando; Suárez, Alfredo; Uralde Jiménez, Virginia; Ballesteros Egüés, Tomás; Alfaro López, José Ramón; Ingeniería; Ingeniaritza; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
With the increasing number of applications employing additive manufacturing solutions, these deposition processes must become more autonomous, which can be helped by the application of machine learning monitoring. This study presents a fully online, low-cost framework for real-time quality control in Invar wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM). Synchronized current and voltage signals are transformed into spatial heatmaps and temporal Markov transition images, which are processed by an optimized ResNet-18 to classify the quality of each layer on-the-fly. Validation using cross-validation on an internal Invar dataset yields an accuracy of up to 94% under clean conditions, with inference times below 20 ms per layer, enabling deployment during natural cooling between layers. These results demonstrate the feasibility of non-intrusive signal-based anomaly detection, enabling rapid identification of weld spalls and useful for scalable and automated WAAM monitoring in industrial environments.

Veiga Suárez, Fernando

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