Microstructure and properties of high strength and high conductivity Cu-Cr alloy components fabricated by high power selective laser melting

Abstract Although different kinds of metal materials have been built in the past years, it is difficult to fabricate the components of copper alloys with high strength and high conductivity due to their high reflectivity and thermal conductivity. In this paper, Cu-Cr alloy with high strength and high conductivity was successfully manufactured by high laser power selective laser melting. The microstructure, mechanical properties and conductivity were studied and compared before and after the heat treatment. The microstructure of the as-built sample was columnar grains with very fine cellular sub-structures and precipitates of Cr and Cr 2 O 3 . After heat treatment, the Cr particles precipitated from Cu matrix, resulting in simultaneous increase in strength and conductivity. The ultimate tensile strength of 468 MPa, yield strength of 377.33 MPa, and electrical conductivity of 98.31% IACS were achieved, which is even better than the samples fabricated by rolling with post heat treatment.