Effect of heat treatments on microstructure and properties of CuCrZr produced by laser-powder bed fusion

Additive manufacturing of copper-based alloys with high thermal conductivity emerged to be a challenging material to manufacture by laser-powder bed fusion. Within this work the copper alloy CuCrZr is presented, which features a high thermal conductivity and high hardness by applying adjusted heat treatments. Investigations on laser fused CuCrZr specimens have been performed to discuss the influence of heat treatments on the microstructure and part properties. Specific heat treatments are inducing a microstructural transformation and the formation of precipitations within the CuCrZr-alloy of a certain morphology. To identify the precipitations within the microstructure, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were used. To obtain enhanced material properties a one-stage heat treatment study was performed. The results were compared to a conventional heat treatment for the CuCrZr-alloy. Thermal and mechanical properties were assessed to characterize the microstructural change. The relations between heat treatments, microstructure and part properties are presented and discussed.