In wire arc additive manufacturing a metal wire and an electric arc are used to create three-dimensional objects. After solidification, layers of the wire's molten metal are deposited along a specified path to obtain the desired shape. This technique of wire arc additive manufacturing can be used to create large-scale items and has a higher deposition rate than other additive manufacturing methods. In wire arc additive manufacturing, the cold metal transfer (CMT) method based on gas metal arc welding is preferred because it retracts the welding filler material, allowing the weld to cool before each drop is deposited. Due to its high strength, toughness, low cost, and good formability, high strength low alloy steel is in high demand for wire arc additive manufacturing applications in a variety of industries. Surface silicate and oxide formation is one of the main issues in the wire arc additive manufacturing of high-strength low alloy steel. The silicates and oxides formed will settle on the surface of the bead after solidification which needs to be removed before deposition of the next layer.This makes WAAM process complicated apart from high deposition rate and faster buildup than other additive manufacturing methods.This study was carried out to investigate the formation of surface silicates and oxides and silicon islands during the cold metal transfer wire arc additive manufacturing of high strength steel solid and tubular wires. Various shielding gas combinations were used in experiments to find out the most efficient combination which produce least oxides and silicates after a single bead deposition. The accumulation of surface oxides on the surface of bead, current, voltage, and power variations, microstructure, and hardness variations were observed in this study. Using a high-speed camera, real-time images of melt pool were captured to find out accumulation of silicates. Light optical microscope is used to analyze the microstructure formed after deposition. The results of the study revealed that reducing the CO2 in the shielding gas reduced surface oxide formation significantly. The hardness of the deposited beadranged from 320HV to 400HV. The hardness values showed that maximum hardness is on the deposited bead followed by heat affected zone and base metal.More cross-sections from samples needed to be analyzed with SEM to identify any silicate and oxide inclusions in the microstructure and furthermore tensile tests to check the quality of the bead are recommended for future work