Qualification of CuCr1Zr for the SLM Process

Abstract

Working coils for electromagnetic forming processes need to comply with a wide list of requirements such as durability, efficiency and a tailored pressure distribution. Due to its unique combination of high strength and high electrical conductivity CuCr1Zr meets these requirements and is a common material for coil turns. In combination with conventional coil production processes like winding or waterjet cutting the use of this material is state of the art. A promising approach for coil production is the use of additive manufacturing (AM) processes. In comparison to conventional manufacturing processes, AM offers tremendous advantages such as feature-integration e.g. undercuts or lattice structures. However, this increased design freedom only leads to improved working coils if copper alloys with high strength and high electrical conductivity such as CuCr1Zr can be processed. Due to the high thermal conductivity and reflectivity the use of suchlike materials in additive manufacturing processes is challenging. Considering the effects of the required pre- and post-processing treatments for additive manufactured parts the need for research is further increased. The objective of this paper is to develop a method for the qualification of CuCr1Zr for the selective laser melting (SLM) process. This comprises the powder characterization, the process parameter identification and the microstructure investigation of the generated test geometries.