The Most Important Application for 3D Printing: Conformal Cooling

Much of engineering is about putting heat in and taking heat out. Anyone who has studied heat engines knows that efficiency is determined by the Delta T between combustion temperatures and ambient, and this has driven designers to build hotter and hotter engines in everything from automobiles to jet aircraft. This has driven the development of heat resistant materials such as nickel-based superalloys, but additive manufacturing is offering another way to achieve high heat transfer rates without very expensive materials: conformal cooling. This build strategy allows everything from rocket engine nozzles to plastic injection moulds to be optimized for heat transfer rates with high efficiency at low cost and promises to improve performance and lower unit costs in everything from space satellites to bottle caps.

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