No abstract

The addition of 0.1 wt % carbon nanoparticles significantly improved the optical absorption and flowability of gas-atomized copper powder. This facilitated selective laser melting (SLM) by reducing the required laser energy density to obtain 98% dense parts. Moreover, the carbon addition led to an in situ de-oxidation of the copper parts during the SLM process. The properties of the as-built copper parts were limited to a tensile strength of 125 MPa, a ductility of 3%, and an electrical conductivity of 22.7 × 106 S/m, despite the advantageous effect of carbon on the powder characteristics and SLM behavior. The modest mechanical properties were associated with the segregation of carbon nanoparticles and other impurities, such as phosphorus and oxygen along grain boundaries of epitaxially grown grains. Whereas, the low electrical conductivity was mainly attributed to the phosphorus impurity in solid-solution with copper.

Owing to the high optical reflectivity of copper, silver, and gold in the infrared region, high laser power is required for laser-based additive manufacturing (L-AM). This increases the risk of damaging the laser optics due to sustained back-reflections and renders L-AM of reflective metals an unsustainable technology. To tackle this issue, a novel, industrially upscalable powder surface modification method is proposed and validated using a CuCr1 alloy. The surface of CuCr1 powder is modified by the outward diffusion of chromium in a nitrogen atmosphere, forming a rim around the powder particles. This doubled the optical absorption of the powder. Consequently, a mere 20% of the laser energy is required to process the surface-modified powder by laser powder bed fusion compared to the virgin CuCr1 powder. The fabricated parts demonstrate a very high thermal conductivity of 370 ± 15 W/(m•K) and tensile strength of 439 ± 19 MPa, after applying a suitable post-heat treatment.

Selective laser melting of pure copper is challenging because of its high optical reflectivity and thermal conductivity. Accordingly, the surface of pure copper powder was modified by oxidation to enhance the optical absorption. The powder with improved optical absorption facilitated the production of crack‐free and dense copper parts at relatively lower laser energy density in both argon and nitrogen atmosphere. The microstructural analysis demonstrated the presence of stable melt tracks without obvious porosity. A very high electrical conductivity of approximately 89% of the international annealed copper standard, the hardness of approximately 93 HV, a tensile strength of approximately 270 MPa, and ductility of approximately 28% were achieved in the as‐built condition.

In this article, the laser-based powder bed fusion (L-PBF) processing behavior of pure copper powder is evaluated by employing a conventional infrared fiber laser with a wavelength of 1080 nm, a small focal spot diameter of 37.5 µm, and power levels up to 500 W. It is shown that bulk solid copper parts with near full density (ρ Archimedes = 99.3 ± 0.2%, ρ Optical = 99.8 ± 0.1%) can be produced using a laser power of 500 W for the chosen combination of powder particle size, L-PBF settings, and pure copper baseplate. Moreover, at 500 W, parts with a relative density exceeding 99% are manufactured within a volumetric energy density window of 230 -310 J/mm 3 , while laser power levels below 500 W did not produce parts with a relative density above 99%. An analytical model is used to elucidate the L-PBF processing behavior, wherein both conduction and keyhole regimes corresponding to the employed L-PBF settings are identified. The analytical model-based results predict that the bulk solid copper parts with near full density are produced in a keyhole regime prior to the onset of keyholeinduced porosity, which is in accordance with the porosity types observed in the parts. The L-PBF fabricated copper parts exhibit an electrical conductivity of 94 ± 1% compared to the international annealed copper standard (IACS) and demonstrate a tensile strength of 211 ± 4 MPa, a yield strength of 122 ± 1 MPa, and an elongation at break of 43 ± 3% in the as-built condition.