Selective Electron Beam Melting of Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Copper

An oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) copper powder containing 5 vol% Al 2 O 3 as finely dispersed particles is processed by selective electron beam melting (SEBM), a powder bed based additive manufacturing technology. Contrary to usual powder characteristics used for SEBM, the particles show a non‐spherical morphology and a copper oxide layer on their surface. A preheating strategy as well as melting parameters for successful generation of ODS‐Cu samples is developed to achieve processability despite the adverse powder conditions. Specimens are built and their meso‐ and microscale structures are analyzed by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as well as energy dispersive X‐ray analyses (EDX). Temperature depending phase separation effects previously encountered in literature during fabrication of ODS‐Cu powders are taken into account. Alumina particles were found to coagulate during the process. Partly the Al 2 O 3 was melted and separated from the Cu which resulted in heavy demixing of the system and subsequent loss of dispersion strengthening effect.