A Library of Mechanical Properties of Cu-CuAl Alloys Produced by Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing

This study aims to develop a library of Cu-CuAl material compositions and evaluate their mechanical properties. Various compositions are fabricated using Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) with GMAW and GTAW processes. The produced materials are characterised through hardness testing, eddy current measurements, and tensile testing supported by Digital Image Correlation (DIC). The hardness analysis reveals that increasing the CuAl content leads to higher hardness values. All compositions display stable and consistent eddy current measurements, except for the alloy with 25% Cu and 75% CuAl, which shows comparatively higher values. The load–displacement curves indicate that higher Cu content enhances ductility, resulting in a lower maximum load. Conversely, a higher CuAl fraction is directly associated with greater ultimate tensile strength. Overall, compositions with higher CuAl content exhibit improved mechanical performance, although they do not reach the levels of commercial materials due to defects inherent to the additive manufacturing process.