Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, EA-07-05, Singapore 117575, Singapore
Amutha Chinnappan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, EA-07-05, Singapore 117575, Singapore
Jeremy Kong Yoong Lee
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, EA-07-05, Singapore 117575, Singapore
Nguyen Huu Loc
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, VNUHCM, 268 Ly Thuong Kiet, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City 740400, Vietnam
Long T. Tran
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, VNUHCM, 268 Ly Thuong Kiet, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City 740400, Vietnam
Gengjie Wang
Institute of Materials Engineering, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Vishnu Vijay Kumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, EA-07-05, Singapore 117575, Singapore
W. A. D. M. Jayathilaka
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, EA-07-05, Singapore 117575, Singapore
Dongxiao Ji
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, EA-07-05, Singapore 117575, Singapore
Mrityunjay Doddamani
Lightweight Materials Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal 575025, India
Seeram Ramakrishna
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, EA-07-05, Singapore 117575, Singapore
Copper has been widely used in many applications due to its outstanding properties such as malleability, high corrosion resistance, and excellent electrical and thermal conductivities. While 3D printing can offer many advantages from layer-by-layer fabrication, the 3D printing of highly pure copper is still challenging due to the thermal issues caused by copper’s high conductivity. This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent work on 3D printing technology of highly pure copper over the past few years. The advantages and current issues of 3D printing methods are compared while different properties of copper parts printed by these methods are summarized. Finally, we provide several potential applications of the 3D printed copper parts and an overview of current developments that could lead to new improvements in this advanced manufacturing field.
