Selective Laser Melting of (Fe-Si-B)/Cu Composite: Structure and Magnetic Properties Study

A mixture of original 1CP powder and 10 wt.% of pure Cu-powder was prepared and 1CP-Cu composite samples were obtained by selective laser melting using different process parameters. Comparison of pure 1CP and composite samples showed that addition of Cu halved the porosity percentage of the obtained material. Distribution of Cu-phase in 1CP-matrix can be recognized as uniform in all the samples. X-ray diffraction of samples showed the presence of alpha-Fe solid solution, iron boride Fe2B, and crystal Cu. Scanning electron microscopy analysis also allowed to discover ordered solid solution Fe3Si in samples microstructure. Differential scanning calorimetry data showed that composite sample contains amorphous phase as opposed to pure 1CP sample manufactured using the same process parameters. Magnetic properties of samples were studied, and it was found that addition of 10 wt.% of Cu allowed to reduce magnetic field energy losses by approximately four times.