Research database

The project aims at the ICME-guided development of a new group of Cu MMC materials, which are produced by a combination of (i) gas atomization, (ii) powder modification by nanoparticles and (iii) additive manufacturing by selective laser melting (SLM). Due to the high thermal conductivity and high reflectivity, Cu and its alloys are difficult to process in sufficient low-porosity quality by SLM. Furthermore, the new applications of complex-shaped high-performance heat exchangers made of Cu alloys require an optimum combination of strength, thermal and electrical conductivity.
These challenges will be addressed by

• the application of a green laser source with low reflectivity,
• tailoring the chemical composition to obtain supersaturated powder with initially poor thermal conductivity that will increase during an in-situ ageing process by SLM, and
• increasing the material's strength by using nano-particle strengthening.
• The working program includes a recursive strategy to efficiently adapt the experimental parameters according to a material's modelling approach in sub-project SP1. In parallel, the generation of MMC powders will be realized within sub-project SP2 and SLM processing within sub-project SP3. Screening of the mechanical properties will contribute to the ICME-guided material's design process and close the recursion cycle.

The work program is shared between the TU Dresden and Aachen University, where the Steel Institute is one of the members of the new research center for digital photonic processing (CDPP), where the complete equipment of the additive manufacturing value chain is available. Beside of this, the Osnabrück 3D Materials Design technology centre initiated and run by the proposer Prof. Krupp as a collaboration between Aachen University, the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück will be part of the work program. The centre is located within the production plant of KME Germany, as one of Europe's leading copper manufacturers. Here, a part of the gas atomization and SLM runs will be carried out under the guidance of the co-proposer Dr. Jahns. She is actually holding a qualification position shared between University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück and the copper manufacturer KME Germany GmbH & Co. KG, and is preparing a habilitation thesis under the guidance of the proposer Prof. Krupp at RWTH Aachen University.