Manufacturing of high strength and high conductivity copper with laser powder bed fusion
Yingang Liu, Jingqi Zhang, Ranming Niu, Mohamad Bayat, Ying Zhou, Yu Yin, Qiyang Tan, Shiyang Liu, Jesper Henri Hattel, Miaoquan Li, Xiaoxu Huang, Julie M. Cairney, Yi‐Sheng Chen, Mark Easton, Christopher Hutchinson, Mingxing Zhang
Abstract
Abstract Additive manufacturing (AM), known as 3D printing, enables rapid fabrication of geometrically complex copper (Cu) components for electrical conduction and heat management applications. However, pure Cu or Cu alloys produced by 3D printing often suffer from either low strength or low conductivity at room and elevated temperatures. Here, we demonstrate a design strategy for 3D printing of high strength, high conductivity Cu by uniformly dispersing a minor portion of lanthanum hexaboride (LaB 6 ) nanoparticles in pure Cu through laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF). We show that trace additions of LaB 6 to pure Cu results in an improved L-PBF processability, an enhanced strength, an improved thermal stability, all whilst maintaining a high conductivity. The presented strategy could expand the applicability of 3D printed Cu components to more demanding conditions where high strength, high conductivity and thermal stability are required.