Speaker
Description
The Copper Alloy for Additive Manufacturing (CufAM) project was envisioned as a technology demonstration activity. In particular, a green (515 nm) laser was utilized which offers high energy absorption of up to 60% in copper thus enabling improved manufacturing capabilities for sophisticated geometries. The aim of the project was to advance the end-to-end AM process chain, and deliver reliable properties and part characteristics using oxygen-free, high-conductivity (OFHC) copper powder as a feedstock.
In order to showcase the advantages of this technology, phase change material (PCM) based devices were selected. Given the low thermal conductivity of the PCM material itself, such devices require an internal lattice in order to aid spreading heat across the volume. To this end, lattices made out of high thermal conductivity copper have been assessed, designed, compared and finally manufactured to be integrated into the devices or directly included at the fabrication phase.
The presentation is going to focus on the design and development process of two different types of devices: a heat capacitor and a heat spreader (doubler). The presentation will cover design considerations, the development process and manufacturing of the devices. Post-processing, additional machining and other steps to prepare the devices for testing are going to be discussed as well. An overview of the testing approach, characterization results and challenges encountered during testing will also be provided.
The CufAM project was a collaboration between the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), Airborne Engineering (AEL), Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik (ILT) and Azimut Space GmbH, funded through the ESA General Support Technology Programme (GSTP).