Investigation into manufacturing Fe–Cu–C alloy parts through indirect selective laser sintering

Abstract

The properties of alloy parts can be adjusted conveniently if alloy element powders are used for manufacturing alloy parts by indirect selective laser sintering, but no research has been reported on this so far. In this paper several composite powders have been obtained by blending pure Fe, Cu and graphite powders, which have been used to produce green parts by indirect selective laser sintering. Cu infiltrated Fe–Cu–C alloy was manufactured after green parts had been degreased, high temperature sintered and infiltrated. Contents of composite powders, post-processing of green parts, microstructures and mechanical property of alloys were investigated. The results indicate that: Cu and C can diffuse into γ-Fe when green parts are being sintered at high temperature; the microstructures of alloy are composed of a large quantity of eutectoid structures mixtures of Fe–C and Fe–Cu at room temperature besides a coarse structure; the eutectoid structure varies regionally owing to the inhomogeneous concentration of Cu and C; the yield strength of Fe–Cu–C sample alloys is >300 MPa and the elongation is <3%.