Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) holds great promise for creating large metal parts, but challenges remain in controlling part quality and accuracy, especially geometric features like thin walls and overhangs. This review analyzes how heat management, process planning, and parameter selection influence part quality, dimensional accuracy, and common defects like porosity and humping, proposing future research directions focused on overcoming these limitations and expanding WAAM's geometrical capabilities.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Materials innovation institute M2i and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, as well as support from industrial partners and the Rotterdam Fieldlab Additive Manufacturing BV. While these affiliations could represent potential biases, the broad scope of the review and inclusion of a diverse range of studies mitigate this risk.

This comprehensive review provides a valuable summary of the state of the art in WAAM, focusing specifically on the crucial area of geometric quality and accuracy. Despite some limitations in scope and original analysis, the paper effectively identifies key challenges and summarizes existing research efforts, making it a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners in the field. The acknowledged funding and collaborations represent a potential, though mitigated, conflict of interest.