Abstract: Selective laser sintering of a multi-component Cu-based metal powder with the Cu, CuSn and CuP weight ratio of 55∶35∶10 has been successfully processed. The CuSn metal powder with a lower melting point acts as the binder, while the Cu powder with a higher melting point acts as the structural metal. The CuP powder is taken as a fluxing agent to improve the wetting characteristics. The dominant sintering mechanism is liquid formation and particle rearrangement. Care should be taken to determine the suitable processing param- eters (laser power of 275～400 W and scan speed of 0.03～0.06 m·s–1) in order to ensure the melting of the binder CuSn but the non-melting of the structural metal Cu. Under condition that the mechanism of liquid phase sintering with partial melting of the powder prevails, increasing laser power or decreasing scan speed can generally improve sintering density and structural homogeneity.

Key words: Cu-based metal powder Sintering mechanism, Liquid phase sintering Processing parameters, selective laser sintering