Experimental study of binding copper powders by electrochemical deposition

Abstract

Binding of metal powders using electrochemically deposited binders provides a novel approach to achieve metal additive manufacturing at ambient temperature. In this study, using an in-house built experimental setup, a single layer of copper powders were electrochemically bound together with the help of nickel binder and the deposits were studied by scanning electron microscope and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Mechanical characterization performed on the deposits reveals that the yield strength of the deposit is comparable to that of laser-sintered parts made from Cu/Ni powder. Furthermore, Taguchi studies have been conducted to investigate the optimal process parameters required for minimum diameter of electrochemically bound spot, layer thickness and yield strength. Analysis of variance and signal-to-noise ratio were used to determine the important levels of process parameters and the results were then experimentally verified.