Additive manufactured of pure copper by blue diode laser induced selective laser melting

The authors developed a galvano selective laser melting (SLM) system equipped with a blue diode laser and clarified that the volume of the fabricated pure copper part has an influence on the relative density. SLM is a 3D printing technology. Blue diode laser is anticipated to effectively form pure copper parts because the absorptance of 450 nm light on pure copper is higher than that of conventional 1 μm light. In our previous study, the authors reported a newly developed blue diode laser whose wavelength was 450 nm. Laser power and fiber core diameter were 200 W and 100 μm, respectively. In this study, the height and width of the copper part were changed, and their influence on the density of the parts was investigated. As a result, it was found that the larger the volume of the fabricated copper part, the lower the density. In addition, the diluted layer of pure copper and the stainless steel baseplate in the copper part were measured. By controlling the amount of laser heat input between the diluted layer and the undiluted layer, it was possible to form a pure copper part with a high density of 99.6%.