International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 56 (2012) 50–58

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmactool

A novel selection method of scanning step for fabricating metal components

based on micro-droplet deposition manufacture
Le-hua Qi a,b,n, Yan-pu Chao a, Jun Luo a, Ji-ming Zhou a, Xiang-hui Hou c, He-jun Li d
a
School of Mechatronics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, PR China, 710072
b
The Key Laboratory of Contemporary Design and Integrated Manufacturing Technology, Ministry of Education, PR China, 710072
c
Faculty of Engineering, Energy and Sustainability Research Division, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, United Kingdom
d
School of Material, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, PR China, 710072

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Metal micro-droplet deposition manufacture technology has attracted wide interest for potential
Received 22 August 2011 application in micro-structure fabrication. In order to fabricate functional metal components by
Received in revised form sequentially depositing molten metal droplets on substrate layer by layer, the perfect overlapping
5 December 2011
and bonding strength among droplets have to be obtained. In this paper, the influence of scanning step
Accepted 5 December 2011
Available online 10 January 2012
on overlapping of droplets was investigated, and the critical overlapping condition of droplets was
calculated by analyzing the relationship of the shape parameters of solidified droplet on the substrate.
Keywords: Four kinds overlapping states of adjacent droplets were predicted according to the change of scanning
Micro-droplet deposition steps: no overlapping, partial overlapping, ideal overlapping and excessive overlapping. On this basis,
Scanning step
two simple and effective models were proposed to calculate and predict the optimal scanning steps
Solidification angle
(WXP and WYL). The calculation results show that the WXP and WYL were only affected by droplet
Overlapping state
diameter (D) and solidification angle (y). Based on this analysis, a pneumatic droplet generator was
used to produce uniform molten Sn60–Pb40 alloy droplets with specific diameters (256 mm, 400 mm
and 700 mm), and a series of deposition experiments were carried out with different scanning steps on
the condition of fixed droplet temperature (270 1C) and substrate temperature (90 1C). The experi-
mental results show that good overlapping and bonding strength of adjacent droplets could be obtained
in deposited lines and layers, and low porosity and high density three-dimensional metal component
was fabricated with optimized experimental parameters (WXP and WYL) according to theoretical
models. The work can provide useful theoretical and experimental guide for metal micro-droplet
deposition manufacture.
Crown Copyright & 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Metal micro-droplet deposition manufacture [1,2] is a novel
additive manufacturing (AM) for building miniature functional
parts. It has attracted increasing attention, because of fabricating
structures by directly depositing micro metal droplets without
expensive energy sources or molds comparing to others additive
manufacturing (AM) technologies [3–5]. During deposition, metal
material is first melted in a crucible, and then uniform metal
micro-droplets are sprayed from a nozzle by the combined
actions of pulse pressure [6], surface tension force and gravity [7].
Finally uniform micro-droplets are deposited onto a moving
substrate to fabricate three-dimensional complex components
n
Corresponding author at: School of Mechatronics, Northwestern Polytechnical
University, Xi’an, PR China, 710072.
Tel.: þ86 29 88460447; fax: þ86 29 88491982.
E-mail address: qilehua@nwpu.edu.cn (L.-h. Qi).
layer by layer [8]. The studies on uniform metal droplet spraying
and depositing were originated at University of California, Irvine
(UCI) [8,9] and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in
1990s [10,11]. Later, various uniform droplet spraying appara-
tuses were developed [12–14], and the precise control theories of
uniform droplets spraying [7], impacting [15], deposition and
solidification [16,17] were studied. The feasibility of depositing
metal parts using the uniform droplets was investigated [18].
Because the metal materials have much higher values of
surface tension, melting temperature, latent heat of solidification
and thermal conductivity than waxes and polymers [19], so that it
is harder to make metal micro-droplets fuse together to form a
high quality structure after solidification. Some key problems
need to be systematically overcome, such as the steady spraying
of uniform droplets, the control of remelting depth and bonding
strength of droplets deposited on substrate, the selection of
scanning steps and the improvement of forming density. Escure
and Vardelle [20] studied the impact process of aluminum

0890-6955/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright & 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2011.12.002
 Le-hua Qi et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 56 (2012) 50–58
droplets on cold and hot substrates by theoretical modeling and
experimental analysis. Luo et al. [21] analyzed the lateral instabil-
ity of the uniform charged droplet stream in droplet-based free-
form fabrication. Chandra et al. [22] proposed a heat transfer
model to predict suitable temperatures of droplet and substrate
for obtaining good metallurgical bonding of droplets. Jiang et al.
[23] investigated the influences of disturbance frequency on the
generation of uniform droplets for micro-droplet deposition
manufacture. Fang et al. [24] analyzed the variations of droplet
solidification angle on different substrate temperatures and
investigated the influence of spraying frequency and substrate
velocity on the forming quality of deposited lines.
During fabricating metal components by sequentially deposit-
ing micro-droplets layer by layer, the selection of scanning steps
is also very important. If the scanning steps are not appropriate,
then the remelting and coalescence of metal droplets are insuffi-
ciency, and the bonding strength of adjacent droplets would be
not strong enough to avoid the formation of defects (such as
micro-cracks, holes and collapse). As a result, the density and
mechanical properties of formed parts would be insufficient. At
present, the usual selection method of scanning steps is to
approximately determine and gradually adjust according to for-
mer deposition experimental results in manufacturing process.
Because the selection of scanning step is affected by droplet
diameter, substrate temperature and solidified shape of the
droplets on substrate, the above selection method is easy to cause
defects for components and lack of universality and effectiveness,
which affects further application of micro-droplet deposition
manufacture. In this paper, a convenient and effective method
was proposed to resolve the selecting problem of scanning steps.
A series of deposition experiments were carried out to validate
the selection method. The work provides an effective method for
optimizing scanning step and improving the quality of the formed
components by droplet-based freeform fabrication.
2. Modeling and analysis of forming process
The forming principle of three-dimensional metal component
based on micro-droplet deposition manufacture is schematically
shown in Fig. 1. First, CAD model of component was designed using
modeling software (UG). Then, the model was loaded into the slice
software and sliced into a series of parallel layers with specific
thickness. Meanwhile, solid areas in one layer were filled with
depositing path of droplets. Then, the additive manufacturing (AM)
Fig. 1. Forming principle of three-dimensional metal component based on micro-droplet deposition manufacture.
51
procedures including droplet scanning paths and coordinately con-
trol instructions were generated. The generation of droplets and the
motion of substrate were synchronized by the experimental system
according to the AM procedures. Finally, the component was formed
by metal droplets with certain scanning step and trajectory.
During the fabricating process, the micro-droplets were
sequentially deposited on substrate with the scanning pattern
(raster-scan) to fill the cross section of layer, as shown in Fig. 2(a).
The space between two centers of adjacent deposited droplets is
defined as the scanning step W, which is expressed by Wx and Wy
in x, y directions, respectively. As shown in Fig. 2(a) and (b), the
center to center space between the droplets a and b is Wx, the
center to center space between the droplets b and d is Wy. In
addition, the ratio of the droplet diameter to the maximum width
of overlapped section between two adjacent deposited droplets is
defined as the overlapping ratio Z. As shown in Fig. 2(b), Z ¼ Lx/D,
where Lx is the maximum width of overlapped section between
the droplets a and b, and D is the droplet diameter.
The scanning step W and overlapping ratio Z can be controlled
in depositing component according to the forming principle. The
scanning step Wx can be adjusted using different droplet spraying
frequencies and substrate velocities when depositing line by
droplets using point by point scanning. Fig. 2(c) shows the control
principle of scanning step Wx. f is droplet spraying frequency, D is
droplet diameter, V is the substrate velocity, N is the ejecting
number of droplets and S is the substrate displacement within t
seconds. So, the relationship between f and V is expressed as:
S ¼ t  V ¼ Wx  N ð1Þ
N ¼ t  f: ð2Þ
Using Eqs. (1) and (2), the Wx and Zx can be expressed by
Eqs. (3) and (4):
v
Wx ¼ ð3Þ
f
Lx DW x Wx v
Zx ¼ ¼ ¼ 1 ¼ 1 : ð4Þ
D D D fD
In addition, the scanning step Wy can be considered as the line
deposition spacing Ds between two adjacent lines when deposit-
ing layer by droplets using line by line scanning. Fig. 2(d) shows
that the value of Wy can be controlled by adjusting Ds in
generating filling path of layer.
52 Le-hua Qi et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 56 (2012) 50–58

Fig. 2. Analysis of scanning step and overlapping ratio in forming process.

3. Theoretical calculation of scanning step

Dðð4 ðsinyÞ3 Þ=ð1cosyÞ2 ð2þ cosyÞÞ1=3
Rb ¼ ð6Þ
In this section, the shape parameters of droplet deposited on the 2
substrate were defined. The critical overlapping condition of droplets
Dðð4Þ=ðð1cos yÞ2 ð2 þ cos yÞÞÞ1=3
was calculated and the influence of scanning steps (Wx and Wy) on Rc ¼ ð7Þ
2
overlapping state was analyzed. On that basis, two theoretical models
of appropriate scanning steps (WXP and WYL) were established !1=3
4ðsin yÞ3
according to the overlapping processes of two adjacent droplets and W d ¼ 2Rb ¼ D ð03 o y r903 Þ ð8Þ
two adjacent lines, respectively. The expressions of WXP and WYL were ð1cos yÞ2 ð2 þ cos yÞ
deduced based on the reasonable assumptions that the surface !1=3
tension of liquid metal droplets is neglected and the overlapping 4
W d ¼ 2Rc ¼ D ð901 r y o 1801Þ ð9Þ
liquid metal could spread and fill up the required place. ð1cos yÞ2 ð2 þcos yÞ

3.1. Calculation of solidified droplet shape 3.2. Influence of scanning step on overlapping state

Because the selection of scanning steps is affected by the shape Based on the above calculations, in the process of depositing a
of solidified droplet on the substrate, it is very important to line with the scanning step W by droplets, if Wo Wd, the droplets
analyze the relationship of shape parameters of solidified droplet. will overlap, and the deposited droplets tend to coalesce and form
The droplet was a nearly sphere with diameter D after being a continuous bead. If W4Wd, the droplets will not overlap each
sprayed from the nozzle. Then the droplet impacted and solidified other, and the deposited droplets can not coalesce. The over-
on the substrate, which was considered as a spherical cap [24]. lapping condition of droplets can be expressed by Eqs. (10) and
Fig. 3(a) shows the shape of droplets on substrate under different (11) based on Eqs. (8) and (9).
process parameters. Fig. 3(b) shows the cross-section of a solidi- When y r 901:
fication droplet, which can be represented by shape parameters
W o W d ¼ 2Rb
such as solidification angle y, shape maximum width Wd, shape !1=3
height H, spreading radius of droplet Rb and spherical cap radius 4ðsin yÞ3
W oD ð10Þ
Rc. Fig. 3(c) gives two kinds of cross-sections of solidified droplets ð1cos yÞ2 ð2 þcos yÞ
with different solidification angles y. According to the conserva-
tion of mass, the volume of a spherical droplet with droplet When y Z 901:
diameter D is equal to the volume of spherical cap with solidifica- W o W d ¼ 2Rc
tion angle y. So, the relationship of shape parameters can be !1=3
4
expressed by Eqs. (5)–(9). W oD ð11Þ
ð1cos yÞ2 ð2 þcos yÞ
 3 i 2 
4 D 1 h  p   p Fig. 4 shows the critical condition (W¼Wd) of droplets over-
p ¼ p Rc sin y þRc 3ðRb Þ2 þ Rc sin y þ Rc
3 2 6 2 2 lapped in different solidification angles and droplet diameters. The
ð5Þ curves 1, 2, 3 and 4 are the critical values of scanning step W under
 Le-hua Qi et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 56 (2012) 50–58 53

Fig. 3. Calculation models of droplet solidification shape (a) shape of deposited droplet, (b) cross-section of deposited droplet, (c) definition of shape parameters.

3.3. Calculation of optimal scanning step

3.3.1. Calculation of scanning step WXP

Fig. 4. Critical overlapping conditions of droplets in different solidification angles
and droplet diameters.
different droplet diameters of 100 mm, 300 mm, 500 mm and
700 mm, respectively. In deposition process, the droplet diameter
D and solidification angle y are fixed, if the selected values of
scanning step W locate in the above region of critical curve
(W4Wd), the deposited droplets will not overlap. If the selected
values of scanning step W are in the below region of critical curve
(WoWd), the deposited droplets will overlap. Based on the above
analysis, the adjacent droplets are divided into four kinds over-
lapping states according to the change of scanning steps.
Fig. 5 shows the four overlapping states of droplets under
different scanning steps Wx and four overlapping states of lines
under different scanning steps Wy: no overlapping, partial over-
lapping, ideal overlapping and excessive overlapping. When the
scanning steps (Wx and Wy) are too large, the droplets (lines) do
not overlap or partially overlap. The quality of formed line and
layer are very poor because of the loose structure and wavy
surface. When the scanning steps (Wx and Wy) are too small, the
droplets (lines) excessively overlap, the deposited droplets grow
upwards and can not form line and layer. Only when the scanning
steps (Wx and Wy) are appropriate, the deposited line and layer
with compact structure and smooth surface could be obtained by
the ideal overlapping of droplets.
When the droplets are deposited to form a metal line along x-
axis direction, the shape parameters of solidified droplets (y, Wd,
H, Rb and Rc) on substrate are fixed by effectively controlling
process parameters. As the deposited metal line with ideal over-
lapping (as shown in Fig. 5(a)) is obtained under the selected
scanning step WXP, the WXP is defined as optimal scanning step.
Therefore, the calculating model of scanning step WXP can be
illustrated by Fig. 6. When droplet 1 and droplet 2 overlap with
the scanning step WXP, the sunken section of two adjacent
droplets (Fig. 6(a)-4) would be sufficiently filled up to form the
ideal shape 5 (Fig. 6(a)-5) by the overlapping Section 3 (Figs. 6(a)-
3). Furthermore, the ideal shape 5 is divided into three parts: two
half spherical caps 6, 8 and one abnormal cylinder 7 (Fig. 6(a)) in
order to simplify the calculation. According to the conservation of
mass, the volume of single droplet is equal to the volume of
abnormity cylinder 7. Then, the WXP and ZXP can be expressed by
Eqs. (12)–(15) based on Fig. 6(b) and Eqs. (6) and (7). Fig. 7 shows
the calculated results of scanning steps WXP under different
solidification angles y and droplet diameters D. It can be seen
that the relationship between the optimal scanning step WXP and
the droplet diameter D is linear at the same solidification angle,
and the relationship between the optimal scanning step WXP and
the solidification angles y is nonlinear when the droplet diameter
is constant.
V drop ¼ V 7 ð12Þ
 3   
4 D 2y p
p ¼ pRc 2 þRb  Rc sin y  W XP ð13Þ
3 2 2p 2
2pD
W XP ¼ Fðy,DÞ ¼
3½ð4Þ=ðð1cosyÞ2 ð2 þ cosyÞÞ2=3 ðysiny cosyÞ
ð0 o y o1801Þ ð14Þ
W XP
ZXP ¼ 1 ð15Þ
D
3.3.2. Calculation of scanning step WYL
When the lines are deposited to form a metal layer along
y-axis direction, the deposited layer with ideal overlapping
(Fig. 5(b)) is obtained under the selected scanning step WYL, the
54 Le-hua Qi et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 56 (2012) 50–58

Fig. 5. Overlapping states under different scanning steps: (a) overlapping states of droplets under different scanning steps Wx, (b) overlapping states of lines under
different scanning steps Wy.

Fig. 6. Calculation models of scanning step WXP.

WYL is defined as optimal scanning step. Therefore, the calculating W YL

ZYL ¼ 1 ð19Þ
model of scanning step WYL can be illustrated by Fig. 8. D

SABMN ¼ SAME þSBND ð16Þ When line 1 and line 2 overlap with the scanning step WYL, the
sunken section of two adjacent lines surface (Fig. 8(a)-3) could be
h  p i  2y  p

sufficiently filled up to form the ideal shape 5 (Fig. 8(a)-5) by the
W YL  Rc sin y þ Rc ¼ pRc2 þRb  Rc sin y ð17Þ overlapping Section 4 (Fig. 8(a)-4). Fig. 8(b) shows the cross
2 2p 2
section of two deposited lines. The area of curve-side-triangle
W YL ¼ Fðy,DÞ CDE should be equal to the area of curve-side-triangle ACB
according to the conservation of mass. Furthermore, they can be
D½ð4Þ=ðð1cosyÞ2 ð2þ cosyÞÞ1=3 ðysiny cosyÞ converted into the area of quadrangle ABMN, which is equal to the
ð0 o y o1801Þ ð18Þ
2ð1cosyÞ sum of AME and BND. Then, the WYL andZYL can be expressed by
 Le-hua Qi et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 56 (2012) 50–58
Eqs. (16)–(19) and based on the Fig. 8(b) and Eqs. (6) and (7).
Fig. 9 shows the calculated results of scanning steps WYL under
different solidification angles y and droplet diameters D. It is
observed that the relationships among the optimal scanning step
WYL, the droplet diameter D and the solidification angles y are
similar to those in Fig. 7. Thus, it is known that the optimal
scanning steps WXP and WYL are only related to the droplet
diameter D and solidification angley. The WXP and WYL can be
calculated by Eqs. (14), (15), (18) and (19) when knowing the
droplet diameter and solidification angle.
4. Experimental results and discussion
4.1. Deposition experiments of lines and layers
A series of experiments were conducted using Sn60–Pb40 alloy
under different Wx and Wy in order to validate the calculating model
of scanning steps. The copperplate was used as deposition substrate
Fig. 7. Calculated results of scanning step WXP under different solidification angles
and droplet diameters.
Fig. 8. Calculation models of scanning step WYL.
55
in experiments. Table 1 lists the process parameters of lines deposi-
tion experiment. Fig. 10 shows the deposited lines under different
scanning steps Wx. In the lines deposition experiments, the appro-
priate scanning step WXP is 294 mm and overlapping ratio ZXP is
26.5%, according to Eqs. (14) and (15) when droplet diameter D is
400 mm, and solidification angle y is 121.51. In experiments, the spray
frequency f was set as 1 Hz, and the velocity of substrate V was set as
0.9, 0.75, 0.6, 0.370, 0.294 and 0.20 mm/s, respectively. The corre-
sponding scanning step Wx was 900, 750, 600 mm, 370, 294 and
200 mm according to Eqs. (3) and (4). Fig. 10 shows the deposited
lines under different scanning steps. It can be seen that the quality of
the deposited lines is very sensitive to the scanning steps. When Wx is
900 mm and 750 mm, the droplets cannot form lines due to the large
space of two adjacent droplets. When Wx is 600 mm and 370 mm, the
space of the adjacent droplets becomes small. The adjacent droplets
appear partial overlapping. But the quality of lines is not optimal
because of loose structure and wavy surface. When Wx is equal to
WXP (294 mm), the deposited line with compact structure and smooth
surface was obtained. Further reduction of the scanning step to Wx
Fig. 9. Calculated results of scanning step WYL under different solidification angles
and droplet diameters.
56 Le-hua Qi et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 56 (2012) 50–58

Table 1
Process parameters of deposition experiments of lines.

Parameter Value Parameter Value

Droplet temperature Td (1C) 270 Spray frequency f (Hz): 1

Substrate temperature Ts (1C) 90 Velocity of substrate V (mm/s): (a) 0.90
Spraying pressure Ps (MPa) 0.2 (b) 0.75
Pulse width Wt (ms) 1.2 (c) 0.60
Deposition distance Hs (mm) 10 (d) 0.37
Oxygen content of environment Oc (PPM) 30 (e) 0.29
Droplet diameter D (mm) 400 (f) 0.20
Solidification angle y (1) 121.5

Fig. 10. Deposited lines under different scanning steps Wx: (a) Wx ¼900 mm, (b) Wx ¼ 750 mm, (c) Wx ¼ 600 mm, (d) Wx ¼ 370 mm, (e) Wx ¼ 294 mm, (f) Wx ¼200 mm.

Table 2
Process parameters of deposition experiments of layers.

Parameter Value Parameter Value

Droplet temperature Td (1C) 270 Spray frequency f (Hz) 1

Substrate temperature Ts (1C) 90 Velocity of substrate V (mm/s) 0.514
Spraying pressure Ps (MPa) 0.35 Line deposition spacing Ds (mm) (a) 1.0
(b) 0.85
Pulse width Wt (ms) 1.5 (c) 0.75
Deposition distance Hs (mm) 10 (d) 0.70
(e) 0.62
Oxygen content of environment Oc (PPM) 30 (f) 0.60
Droplet diameter D (mm) 700
Solidification angle y (1) 120.5

(200 mm), the deposited droplets grew upwards and could not
form line.
Table 2 lists the process parameters of deposition experiments
of layers. Fig. 11 shows the depositing results of layer under
different scanning steps Wy. In the deposition, the calculated
optimal scanning step WYL is 620 mm and overlapping ratio ZYL is
11.4% according to Eqs. (18) and (19) when the droplet diameter
D is 700 mm and the solidification angle y is 121.51. In experiment,
the spray frequency f was set as 1 Hz, the velocity of substrate V
was set as 0.514 mm/s, and the scanning step Wy was set as 1000,
850, 750, 700, 620 and 600 mm, respectively.
Fig. 11 shows the deposited results of layers under different
scanning steps Wy. When Wy is 1000, 850, 750 and 700 mm, the
cross-sections contain many holes because the adjacent two lines
cannot overlap sufficiently. When Wy is 600 mm, the adjacent two
lines overlap excessively and the deposited layer is distorted.
When Wy is equal to WYL (620 mm), the adjacent lines overlap
sufficiently and appropriately, the deposited layer with high
density and good flatness was obtained. In addition, the ratio of
the empty area to the solid area is defined as the partial porosity P
in a cross-section of deposited layer. The P of every cross-section
(in Fig. 11) was measured by the image analysis software (Image-
Pro Plus). Fig. 12 shows the measured results of the partial
porosity under different scanning step Wy. When Wy is 1000,
850, 750, 700, 620 and 600 mm, the P is 13.9%, 7.6%, 4.7%, 1.7%,
0.5% and 3.6%, respectively.
 Le-hua Qi et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 56 (2012) 50–58 57

Fig. 11. Deposited layers under different scanning steps Wy: (a) Wy ¼ 1000 mm, (b) Wy ¼ 850 mm, (c) Wy ¼ 750 mm, (d) Wy ¼ 700 mm, (e) Wy ¼620 mm, (f) Wy ¼600 mm.

Table 3
Process parameters of fabricated components.

Parameter Value

Spraying pressure Ps (MPa) 0.2

Pulse width Wt (ms) 1.2
Droplet diameter D (mm) 256
Droplet temperature Td (1C) 270
Substrate temperature Ts (1C) 90
Deposition distance Hs (mm) 10
Oxygen content of environment Oc (PPM) 30
Solidification angle y (1) 121.5
Sample 1 Sample 2

X-scanning step Wx (mm) 220 188

X-overlapping ratio Zx 18.5% 26.4%
Y-scanning step WY (mm) 250 227
Y-overlapping ratio ZY 7.5% 11.3%

Fig. 12. Measured porosity of cross-sections of the deposited layers with different
scanning steps Wy. 5. Conclusions

(1) The scanning steps and overlapping ratios can be accurately

4.2. Fabrication of three-dimensional metal components
A three-dimensional Sn60–Pb40 alloy component was fabri-
cated using the parameters obtained from the above study.
Table 3 lists the process parameters for the fabrication of
components. Fig. 13 shows the fabrication of three-dimensional
metal samples under different scanning steps. Among them, the
sample 2 was fabricated under the calculated scanning steps WXP
and WYL. The local cross-sections of fabricated samples show that
sample 1 has many holes, but there is no obvious hole in sample 2.
The good metallurgical bonding of the droplets was obtained in
sample 2. The relative density of sample 1 and 2, which was
measured by Archimedes principle, is 75.8% and 96.5%, respectively.
So, the sample 2 is considered to have high density. The experimental
results indicate that the calculating models of scanning steps in this
paper are effective and feasible for improving the quality of formed
parts by droplet-based freeform fabrication.
controlled by adjusting process parameters (droplet spraying
frequency f, substrate velocity V and line deposition spacing
Ds) in fabricating metal components. The critical overlapping
condition of droplets was calculated and four kinds over-
lapping states of adjacent droplets were predicted along with
the change of scanning steps: no overlapping, partial over-
lapping, ideal overlapping and excessive overlapping.
(2) A convenient calculation method for predicting optimal
scanning steps WXP and WYL was proposed based on the
conservation of mass. The deposited lines and layers under
different scanning steps indicate that the calculation method
in this paper is effective and feasible.
(3) A three-dimensional metal component, which was deposited by
the 256 mm diameter droplets, had high density with the
calculated scanning steps WXP and WYL according to theoretical
models. The deposited results showed that the calculation
method of scanning step is convenient and effective for
58 Le-hua Qi et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 56 (2012) 50–58
Fig. 13. Fabricated three-dimensional metal components under different scanning steps: (a) CAD model of component, (b) fabricated sample 1, (C) fabricated sample 2.
optimizing scanning step and improving the quality of the
formed components by droplet-based freeform fabrication.
Acknowledgment
The authors wish to acknowledge the National High Technol-
ogy Research and Development Program of China (no.
2008AA03A238), National Natural Science Foundation of China
(no. 51005186), Foundation for the Author of National Excellent
Doctoral Dissertation of China (no. 2007B3).
References
[1] W.B. Cao, Y. Miyamoto, Freeform fabrication of aluminum parts by direct
deposition of molten aluminum, Journal of Materials Processing Technology
173 (2) (2006) 209–212.
[2] M. Orme, R. Smith, Enhanced aluminum properties by means of precise
droplet deposition, Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering ASME
122 (3) (2000) 484–493.
[3] P. Li, S.Q. Ji, X.Y. Zeng, Q.W. Hu, W.H. Xiong, Direct laser fabrication of thin-
walleded metal parts under open-loop control, International Journal of
Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 996–1002.
[4] D.A. Ramirez, et al., Open-cellular copper structures fabricated by additive
manufacturing using electron beam melting, Materials Science and Engineer-
ing A 528 (2011) 5379–5386.
[5] H. Tan, J. Chen, F. YZhang, X. Lin, W.D. Huang, Process analysis for laser solid
forming of thin-walled structure, International Journal of Machine Tools &
Manufacture 50 (2010) 1–8.
[6] M. Fang, S. Chandra, et al., Building three-dimensional objects by deposition
of molten metal droplets, Rapid Prototyping Journal 14 (1) (2008) 44–52.
[7] S.X. Cheng, T.G. Li, S. Chandra, Producing molten metal droplets with a
pneumatic Droplet-on-demand generator, Journal of Materials Processing
Technology 159 (3) (2005) 295–302.
[8] Q.B. Liu, M. Orme, High precision solder droplet printing technology and the
state-of-the-art, Journal of Materials Processing Technology 115 (3) (2001)
1–13.
[9] M. Orme, C. Huang, J. Courter, Precision Droplet based manufacturing and
material synthesis: fluid dynamic and thermal control issues, Atomization
and Sprays 6 (1996) 305–329.
[10] Chen-An Chen, Paul Acquaviva, Jung-Hoon Chun, Teiichi Ando, Effects of
froplet thermal state on deposit microstructure in spray forming, Scripta
Materialia 35 (5) (1996) 689–696.
[11] C.H. Passow, J.H. Chun, T. Ando, Spray deposition of a Sn-40 wt% Pb alloy with
uniform droplets, Metallurgical Transactions 24 (1993) 1187–1193.
[12] W.B. Cao, Y. Miyamoto, Freeform fabrication of aluminum parts by direct
deposition of molten Aluminum, Journal of Materials Processing Technology
173 (2) (2006) 209–212.
[13] H. Sohna, D.Y. Yangb, Drop-on-demand deposition of superheated metal
droplets for selective infiltration manufacturing, Materials Science and
Engineering A 392 (2005) 415–421.
[14] J. Luo, L.H. Qi, et al., Study on stable delivery of charged uniform droplets for
freeform fabrication of metal parts, SCIENCE CHINA Technological Sciences
54 (1) (2011) 1–8. January.
[15] H.B. Parizi, L. Rosenzweig, et al., Numerical simulation of droplet impact on
patterned surfaces, Journal of Thermal Spray Technology 16 (5) (2007)
713–721.
[16] L.J. Zarzalejo, K.S. Schmaltz, C.H. Amon, Molten droplet solidification and
substrate remelting in microcasting Part I: numerical modeling and experi-
mental verification. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 34 (6)
(1999) 477–485.
[17] S. Haferl, D. Poulikakos, Experimental investigation of the transient impact
fluid dynamics and solidification of a molten microdroplet pile-up, Journal of
Heat and Mass Transfer 46 (2003) 535–550.
[18] Y.P. Chao, L.H. Qi, et al., Experimental verification and procurement of slice
profile data of STL model in metal droplet deposition manufacturing, China
Mechanical Engineering 20 (22) (2009). 2701–205.
[19] M. Fang, S. Chandra, C.B. Park, Experiments on remelting and solidiciation of
molten metal droplets deposited in vertical columns, Journal of Manufactur-
ing Science and Engineering 129 (2007) 311–318.
[20] C. Escure, M. Vardelle, Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Impact of
Alumina Droplets on Cold and Hot Substrates, Plasma Chemistry and Plasma
Processing 23 (2) (2003) 185–221.
[21] J. Luo, L.H. Qi, et al., Research on lateral instability of the uniform charged
droplet stream during droplet based freeform fabrication, International
Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 48 (2008) 289–294.
[22] M. Fang, S. Chandra, C.B. Park, Heat transfer during deposition of molten
aluminum alloy droplets to build vertical columns, Journal of Heat Transfer
131 (112101) (2009) 1–7.
[23] X.S. Jiang, L.H. Qi, J. Luo, H. Huang, J.M. Zhou, Research on accurate droplet
generation for micro-droplet deposition manufacture, International Journal
of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 49 (2010) 535–554.
[24] M. Fang Remelting and coalescence of molten metal droplets deposited on a
plate. ASME Heat Transfer/Fluids Engineering Summer Conference. (2004) 1–6.