Infiltration of Copper Alloy into Stainless Steel Preforms Made by Indirect Selective Laser Sintering

The infiltration process of Cu-Sn alloy into indirect selective laser sintered (SLS) stainless steel preforms was investigated. The heating rate for the infiltration process was 0.17 K/s and the holding temperature was varied from 1293 to 1473 K for 3.6 ks. The process was carried out in an inert gas atmosphere. Although the volume of the preforms without infiltration decreased with increasing sintering temperature, the volume of the infiltrated parts remained constant at approximately -5%. The stainless steel particles were coarsened by the increasing holding temperature during infiltration; however, the area ratio of stainless steel particles remained constant at approximately 60% regardless of the holding temperature. The tensile strength and elongation of the infiltrated parts were approximately 540 MPa and 10%, respectively, regardless of the holding temperature.