Investigating the manufacturability of pure copper micro-parts via Extrusion based Additive manufacturing: a preliminary study

Metal Extrusion based Additive Manufacturing has the potential to successfully fabricate parts with intricate geometries, good dimensional accuracy and low porosity, although several challenges still need to be addressed. Specifically, the paper investigates the capabilities of a Shaping-Debinding-Sintering (SDS) process in fabricating copper parts with micro-features: a benchmark artifact and a waveguide. Furthermore, the surface roughness was improved via micro-Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM). Results show that the dimensional errors on the feature dimensions are between -0.246 and 0.246 mm. The 3D printed surface roughness Sa ranges between 1.43 µm on flat top surfaces and 11.40 µm on side wall surfaces. These roughnesses are sharply reduced to 0.81 µm and 0.15 µm by micro-EDM roughing and fine finishing, respectively.