The ability to make components from copper and copper alloys via additive manufacturing is spurring a range of novel applications. Although the high thermal conductivity of copper presents challenges for direct AM processes, fully dense copper components with complex geometries have been demonstrated. Of particular interest is the ability to use AM methods to fabricate internal cooling channels and mesh structures to optimize thermal management. This article describes feasibility studies to evaluate AM processing of copper parts.
have been active in the area of additive manufacturing since 2000, and have gained an international reputation for their research and educational efforts. While, historically, the first rapid prototyping machines were created to produce parts from thermoset or thermoplastic polymers, the additive manufacturing of metal components has become the most important research topic for a wide variety of industries including aerospace, medicine, power industry, and the military. NCSU was the first user of Electron Beam Melting (EBM) technology in the world when, in 2003, the world's first EBM machine was acquired from Arcam AB (Mölndal, Sweden). This technology allows for production of fully dense metal parts using an electron beam to selectively fuse layers of metal powder.
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