Additively manufactured polymer composites for heat exchanger applications: evaluation of critical thermophysical properties

Kai Li; Tyler Smith; William Asher; Alexis Flores-Betancourt; Artem A. Trofimov; Hsin Wang; Mingkan Zhang; Logan Kearney; Edgar Lara-Curzio; Soydan Ozcan; Vlastimil Kunc; Amit K. Naskar; Kashif Nawaz

doi:10.1007/s10853-023-08709-8

Additively manufactured polymer composites for heat exchanger applications: evaluation of critical thermophysical properties

Kai Li, Tyler Smith, William Asher, Alexis Flores-Betancourt, Artem A. Trofimov, Hsin Wang, Mingkan Zhang, Logan Kearney, Edgar Lara-Curzio, Soydan Ozcan, Vlastimil Kunc, Amit K. Naskar, Kashif Nawaz

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Polymeric heat exchangers (PHXs) have been used in applications involving weight restrictions, chemical compatibility, and fouling issues. Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing provide new solutions to previously inaccessible combinations of properties and geometries. There are some advancements in the PHXs by AM; however, the process and the properties of materials still need further investigation to improve the overall performance. In this study, additively manufactured polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) composites reinforced with graphite and pitch-based carbon fibers were evaluated for their potential application as PHXs. The thermal conductivity, volumetric heat capacity, coefficient of thermal expansion, creep behavior, and long-term performance were studied in detail. Our results reveal that the composites have an anisotropic thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity along the printing direction is higher than the layer building direction due to the shear-induced alignment of the fillers. The printed composites achieve good thermal stability with 80% lower CTE at room temperature than neat PETG. Creep tests suggest the creep and creep recovery were highly temperature-dependent, and the deformation can be recovered when the temperature is below glass transition. These results suggest additive manufactured composites be potentially used for heat exchanger applications at low temperatures. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	11585-11596
Number of pages	12
Journal	Journal of Materials Science
Volume	58
Issue number	28
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08709-8
State	Published - Jul 2023

Funding

This research is supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Building Technologies Office, under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle LLC. This research used resources at the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC), Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), and Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF), DOE Office of Science User Facilities operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle LLC under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with DOE. The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/ doe-public-access-plan). This research is supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Building Technologies Office, under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle LLC. This research used resources at the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC), Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), and Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF), DOE Office of Science User Facilities operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Funders	Funder number
CNMS
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
Manufacturing Demonstration Facility
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Building Technologies Office	DE-AC05-00OR22725
UT-Battelle

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1007/s10853-023-08709-8

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Li, K., Smith, T., Asher, W., Flores-Betancourt, A., Trofimov, A. A., Wang, H., Zhang, M., Kearney, L., Lara-Curzio, E., Ozcan, S., Kunc, V., Naskar, A. K., & Nawaz, K. (2023). Additively manufactured polymer composites for heat exchanger applications: evaluation of critical thermophysical properties. Journal of Materials Science, 58(28), 11585-11596. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08709-8

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title = "Additively manufactured polymer composites for heat exchanger applications: evaluation of critical thermophysical properties",

abstract = "Polymeric heat exchangers (PHXs) have been used in applications involving weight restrictions, chemical compatibility, and fouling issues. Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing provide new solutions to previously inaccessible combinations of properties and geometries. There are some advancements in the PHXs by AM; however, the process and the properties of materials still need further investigation to improve the overall performance. In this study, additively manufactured polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) composites reinforced with graphite and pitch-based carbon fibers were evaluated for their potential application as PHXs. The thermal conductivity, volumetric heat capacity, coefficient of thermal expansion, creep behavior, and long-term performance were studied in detail. Our results reveal that the composites have an anisotropic thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity along the printing direction is higher than the layer building direction due to the shear-induced alignment of the fillers. The printed composites achieve good thermal stability with 80% lower CTE at room temperature than neat PETG. Creep tests suggest the creep and creep recovery were highly temperature-dependent, and the deformation can be recovered when the temperature is below glass transition. These results suggest additive manufactured composites be potentially used for heat exchanger applications at low temperatures. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]",

author = "Kai Li and Tyler Smith and William Asher and Alexis Flores-Betancourt and Trofimov, {Artem A.} and Hsin Wang and Mingkan Zhang and Logan Kearney and Edgar Lara-Curzio and Soydan Ozcan and Vlastimil Kunc and Naskar, {Amit K.} and Kashif Nawaz",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.",

year = "2023",

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doi = "10.1007/s10853-023-08709-8",

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Li, K, Smith, T, Asher, W, Flores-Betancourt, A, Trofimov, AA, Wang, H , Zhang, M , Kearney, L , Lara-Curzio, E , Ozcan, S , Kunc, V , Naskar, AK & Nawaz, K 2023, 'Additively manufactured polymer composites for heat exchanger applications: evaluation of critical thermophysical properties', Journal of Materials Science, vol. 58, no. 28, pp. 11585-11596. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08709-8

TY - JOUR

T1 - Additively manufactured polymer composites for heat exchanger applications

T2 - evaluation of critical thermophysical properties

AU - Li, Kai

AU - Smith, Tyler

AU - Asher, William

AU - Flores-Betancourt, Alexis

AU - Trofimov, Artem A.

AU - Wang, Hsin

AU - Zhang, Mingkan

AU - Kearney, Logan

AU - Lara-Curzio, Edgar

AU - Ozcan, Soydan

AU - Kunc, Vlastimil

AU - Naskar, Amit K.

AU - Nawaz, Kashif

PY - 2023/7

Y1 - 2023/7

N2 - Polymeric heat exchangers (PHXs) have been used in applications involving weight restrictions, chemical compatibility, and fouling issues. Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing provide new solutions to previously inaccessible combinations of properties and geometries. There are some advancements in the PHXs by AM; however, the process and the properties of materials still need further investigation to improve the overall performance. In this study, additively manufactured polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) composites reinforced with graphite and pitch-based carbon fibers were evaluated for their potential application as PHXs. The thermal conductivity, volumetric heat capacity, coefficient of thermal expansion, creep behavior, and long-term performance were studied in detail. Our results reveal that the composites have an anisotropic thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity along the printing direction is higher than the layer building direction due to the shear-induced alignment of the fillers. The printed composites achieve good thermal stability with 80% lower CTE at room temperature than neat PETG. Creep tests suggest the creep and creep recovery were highly temperature-dependent, and the deformation can be recovered when the temperature is below glass transition. These results suggest additive manufactured composites be potentially used for heat exchanger applications at low temperatures. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

AB - Polymeric heat exchangers (PHXs) have been used in applications involving weight restrictions, chemical compatibility, and fouling issues. Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing provide new solutions to previously inaccessible combinations of properties and geometries. There are some advancements in the PHXs by AM; however, the process and the properties of materials still need further investigation to improve the overall performance. In this study, additively manufactured polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) composites reinforced with graphite and pitch-based carbon fibers were evaluated for their potential application as PHXs. The thermal conductivity, volumetric heat capacity, coefficient of thermal expansion, creep behavior, and long-term performance were studied in detail. Our results reveal that the composites have an anisotropic thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity along the printing direction is higher than the layer building direction due to the shear-induced alignment of the fillers. The printed composites achieve good thermal stability with 80% lower CTE at room temperature than neat PETG. Creep tests suggest the creep and creep recovery were highly temperature-dependent, and the deformation can be recovered when the temperature is below glass transition. These results suggest additive manufactured composites be potentially used for heat exchanger applications at low temperatures. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

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EP - 11596

JO - Journal of Materials Science

JF - Journal of Materials Science

IS - 28

ER -

Additively manufactured polymer composites for heat exchanger applications: evaluation of critical thermophysical properties

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