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Selective laser sintering of composite copper–tin powders

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Abstract

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is a rapidly developing additive manufacturing technique, with advantages in flexibility and low material waste. Many parameters used in a SLS process are determined by powder type: blended powders have limitations due to wetting and diffusion, while prealloyed powders require processing in a small temperature range dictated by the alloy composition. As an alternative to these, a coated powder was fabricated by electrochemical means. This tin–copper composite powder was compared with a blend of tin and copper powders, using metallographic, crystallographic, and thermal analysis techniques as well as SLS. It was found that, because of the uniform distribution of liquid and increased contact between phases in the composite powder, sintering took place in the composite powder but not in the blend. After a homogenization treatment, mechanical testing of the sintered samples showed that the strength and ductility were comparable to high-porosity materials produced using other techniques.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Mr. Rosen Ivanov and Mr. Petr Fiurasek for their assistance in the experiments, and McGill University for providing funding through the McGill Engineering Doctoral Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

    David C. Walker & Mathieu Brochu

  2. Department of Process Engineering and Applied Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    William F. Caley

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  1. David C. Walker
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  2. William F. Caley
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  3. Mathieu Brochu
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Correspondence to David C. Walker.

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Walker, D.C., Caley, W.F. & Brochu, M. Selective laser sintering of composite copper–tin powders. Journal of Materials Research 29, 1997–2005 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2014.194

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2014.194

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