Decision-based process planning for wire and arc additively manufactured and machined parts

The conventional manufacturing of aircraft components is based on the machining from bulk material and the buy-to-fly ratio is high. This, in combination with the often low machinability of the materials in use, leads to high manufacturing costs. To reduce the production costs for these components, a process chain was developed, which consists of an additive manufacturing process and a machining process. To fully utilize the process chain's capabilities, an integrated process planning approach is necessary. As a result, the work sequence can be optimized to achieve the economically most suitable sequence. In this paper, a method for a joint manufacturing cost calculation and subsequent decision-based cost minimization is proposed for the wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) & milling process chain. Furthermore, the parameters' influence on the results and the magnitude of their influence are determined. These results make it possible to design an economically optimal work sequence and to automate the process planning for this process chain.