Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference - MAMC 2022

Nowadays, Copper alloys are widely used in additive manufacturing applications. Generally spoken, a higher thermal and electrical conductivity goes hand in and with a lower yield strength. Hence, a lot of efforts are being undertaken to improve mechanical properties of copper alloys, e.g. by improving dispersion strengthening or aging mechanisms, by chosing the right heat treatment and of course also by adding more and more expensive alloying elements such as silver, chromium and niobium. In this presentation, an overview is given over experiences and trends in laser powder bed fusion of copper alloys targetting high electrical and thermal conductivity as well as high strength alloys e.g. for mould inserts.