Manufacturing Feasibility and Forming Properties of Cu-4Sn in Selective Laser Melting

Abstract

Copper alloys, combined with selective laser melting (SLM) technology, have attracted increasing attention in aerospace engineering, automobile, and medical fields. However, there are some difficulties in SLM forming owing to low laser absorption and excellent thermal conductivity. It is, therefore, necessary to explore a copper alloy in SLM. In this research, manufacturing feasibility and forming properties of Cu-4Sn in SLM were investigated through a systematic experimental approach. Single-track experiments were used to narrow down processing parameter windows. A Greco-Latin square design with orthogonal parameter arrays was employed to control forming qualities of specimens. Analysis of variance was applied to establish statistical relationships, which described the effects of different processing parameters (i.e., laser power, scanning speed, and hatch space) on relative density (RD) and Vickers hardness of specimens. It was found that Cu-4Sn specimens were successfully manufactured by SLM for the first time and both its RD and Vickers hardness were mainly determined by the laser power. The maximum value of RD exceeded 93% theoretical density and the maximum value of Vickers hardness reached 118 HV 0.3/5. The best tensile strength of 316–320 MPa is inferior to that of pressure-processed Cu-4Sn and can be improved further by reducing defects.

Research on High Layer Thickness Fabricated of 316L by Selective Laser Melting

“…Besides, with regard to the equipment factor, the common SLM machines were SLM Solution (Lubeck, Germany), Phenix (Riom, France), EOS (Planegg, Germany), Concept Laser (Lichtenfels, Germany), Renishaw (London, UK), Realizer (Borchen, Germany), and Trumpf (Munich, Germany), which are used in previous studies. Ahmadi et al used Phenix to study the computational framework by SLM of 316L [ 16 ]; Suryawanshi et al used Concept Laser to study the effects of scanning strategy on mechanical properties [ 36 ]; and Mao et al used EOS to study the manufacturing feasibility of forming Cu-4Sn new material [ 37 ]. In this experiment, the use of Renishaw is different from the previous three devices, which split the scanning speed into exposure time and point distance, called ‘’spot-to-spot formation’’, as shown in Figure 2 b.…”

Pyrometric-Based Melt Pool Monitoring Study of CuCr1Zr Processed Using L-PBF

“…Therefore, the LPBF of copper alloys is being explored, leading to major challenges due to the high thermal conductivity of the powder, poor absorption of laser wavelengths in the range of ≈1070 nm found in standard LPBF machines, and balling (e.g., Reference [ 6 , 7 ]). As a consequence, densities for LPBF copper alloys achieved with common 200–400 W lasers are inferior to those obtained using EBM; the latter being in the range of 93.7% for Cu-4Sn [ 8 ] to 97.9% for Cu-Cr-Zr-Ti [ 9 ] and from 97.65% [ 10 ] to 99.5% [ 11 ] or even 99.8% [ 12 , 13 ] for CuCr1Zr. On LPBF machines with a non-standard high-powered laser, even pure copper powder can be processed: e.g., a density of 96.6% was achieved using an 800 W laser power [ 14 ].…”

Study on the Selective Laser Melting of CuSn10 Powder

“…Wang et al [ 12 ] explored the relations between laser energy density and the densification behavior of 3D-printed AlSi 10 Mg alloys, and the results showed that laser energy density has a significant effect on the forming of defects which could lead to poor mechanical properties of the as-printed parts. Mao et al [ 13 ] studied the statistical influences of process parameters, and their results revealed that laser power has the strongest effect on the relative density and Vickers hardness of 3D-printed Cu-4Sn parts. Zhang et al [ 14 ] indicated that a laser energy density over 340 J/mm 3 can result in dense 3D-printed parts of wrought Al-Cu-Mg alloys.…”