1.School of Automotive Engineering,Changshu Institute of Technology,Changshu 215500,China
2.Advanced Materials Research Central,Northwest Institute for Non-ferrous Metal Research,Xi’an 710016, China
High performance aluminum alloys have broad application prospects in aerospace and automotive fields due to its lightweight, high strength and outstanding corrosion resistance. Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) technology, combining the advantages of high forming efficiency, low cost and excellent environmental adaptability, exhibits great potential in producing aluminum alloy components. However, coarse grains, nonuniform microstructure, residual tensile stress, and porosity defects are always formed in aluminum alloy components owing to the complex thermal cycles, which brings challenges for the WAAM of aluminum alloys. Recently, friction stir processing (FSP) has been used in the additive manufacturing of aluminum alloys to optimize its microstructure. In this review, the latest developments of WAAM aluminum alloys assisted by FSP are reviewed, including the equipment system, process parameters, microstructure, mechanical properties as well as the microstructureperformance controlling mechanisms. Finally, the possible development directions of the above metal additive manufacturing technologies are prospected.