Complex-Shaped Porous Cu Bodies Fabricated by Freeze-Casting and Vacuum Sintering

Porous Cu bodies with complex shapes were fabricated by freeze-casting and vacuum sintering water-based CuO slurry. The sintered bodies showed no noticeable macroscopic defects and good shape tolerance. The interconnected pore tunnels were observed by electronic microscopy. The pore size became smaller and the porosity and volume shrinkage of sintered porous bodies decreased with the increase of solid content in the slurry. XRD results showed the CuO was fully decomposed by vacuum sintering into Cu without any second phases. This new fabrication method may be especially economical when small quantities of porous parts are required. © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.