Characterization of the Metal Fused Filament Fabrication Process for Manufacturing of Pure Copper Inductors

This work presents a comprehensive investigation into the optimization of critical process
parameters associated with metal fused filament fabrication (Metal-FFF) for the production of copperbased
components. The study focused on three different commercial and one self-manufactured
filament, each with unique chemical compositions. These filaments were systematically optimized
and the density was characterized for all processing steps, as well as the electrical conductivity on
the specimen scale. Remarkably, two of the studied filaments exhibited exceptional properties after
sintering with forming gas (up to 94% density and 55.75MS/m electrical conductivity), approaching
the properties measured for established manufacturing methods like metal injection molding. Finally,
the research was extended to component-scale applications, demonstrating the successful fabrication
of inductors with integrated cooling channels. These components exhibited water tightness and were
used in induction hardening experiments, validating the practical utility of the optimized Metal-FFF
process. In summary, the results show great promise in advancing the utilization of Metal-