Method of laser casting copper-based composites

Abstract

This invention presents the process of direct laser casting of copper alloys: Cu—X (where X=Ni, Fe, W;) and their composites Cu—Y and Cu—X—Y (Y=WC, TiC, Ti+C) from powders prepared using mechanical mixing and ball milling processes. Since the metallic powder is combined with a low melting point Cu metal, which has good thermal and electrical conductivity, the combination allows the powder mixture to be melted by CO2 laser and re-solidified into a part with good mechanical properties and conductivity. The laser casting process for the Cu-based in-situ formation and the material systems formed using the said method have been developed. The process can be used to fabricate complex three-dimensional objects by multi-layer overlapping and the material systems can be used to build rapid tooling due to the properties of good thermal conductivity and low wear rate.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.