Electrical resistivity of pure copper processed by medium-powered laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing for use in electromagnetic applications

Silbernagel, Cassidy; Gargalis, Leonidas; Ashcroft, Ian; Hague, Richard; Galea, Michael; Dickens, Phill

Abstract

Pure copper is an excellent thermal and electrical conductor, however, attempts to process it with additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have seen various levels of success. While electron beam melting (EBM) has successfully processed pure copper to high densities, laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) has had difficulties achieving the same results without the use of very high power lasers. This requirement has hampered the exploration of using LPBF with pure copper as most machines are equipped with lasers that have low to medium laser power densities. In this work, experiments were conducted to process pure copper with a 200 W LPBF machine with a small laser spot diameter resulting in an above average laser power density in order to maximise density and achieve low electrical resistivity. The effects of initial build orientation and post heat treatment were also investigated to explore their influence on electrical resistivity. It was found that despite issues with high porosity, heat treated specimens had a lower electrical resistivity than other common AM materials such as the aluminium alloy AlSi10Mg. By conducting these tests, it was found that despite having approximately double the resistivity of commercially pure copper, the resistivity was sufficiently low enough to demonstrate the potential to use AM to process copper suitable for electrical applications.

Citation

Silbernagel, C., Gargalis, L., Ashcroft, I., Hague, R., Galea, M., & Dickens, P. (2019). Electrical resistivity of pure copper processed by medium-powered laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing for use in electromagnetic applications. Additive Manufacturing, 29, Article 100831. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2019.100831

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 5, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Aug 6, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-10
• Deposit Date: Sep 24, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 7, 2020
• Journal: Additive Manufacturing
• Print ISSN: 2214-7810
• Electronic ISSN: 2214-8604
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Article Number: 100831
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2019.100831
• Keywords: Laser powder bed fusion; Copper; Additive manufacturing; 3D printing; Electrical resistivity; Electrical conductivity
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2469755
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214860418309916
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Electrical resistivity of pure copper processed by medium-powered laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing for use in electromagnetic applications; Journal Title: Additive Manufacturing; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2019.100831; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
• Contract Date: Sep 26, 2019