Recent advancements in additive manufacturing (AM) have made it possible to create compact heat exchangers (HXs) with complex geometries. This study introduces a new approach that uses Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS)-based designs for HXs. Mathematical filtering techniques are incorporated to optimize the local morphology changes. The goal of the proposed mathematical filtering method is to improve the flow characteristics and heat exchange capability of TPMS HXs by modifying the structure’s morphology at the inlet and outlet regions. This modification facilitates flow selection and reduces pressure drop. The HX design includes cylindrical flow domains at the inlet and outlet regions. Three different HX designs with varying inlet/outlet domains (through-hole, half-hole, and taper-hole) were fabricated using polymer AM and DLP 3D printing. These designs were then tested for pressure drop. Among the three designs, the taper-hole configuration showed the best flow characteristics, with a 50% reduction in pressure drop compared to previous studies. The taper-hole design was then replicated using metal AM technology, resulting in a 70-125% improvement in heat exchange capacity compared to previous studies.

Injection molding is one of most widely-used polymer processing technologies in which hot polymer fills a mold cavity, and is solidified during the subsequent cooling process. In the mold filling stage, the mold temperature should be high to improve flow characteristics, and low to reduce cooling time during the cooling stage. To fulfill these objectives, rapid mold heating technology has been developed to raise mold temperature, without significant increase in cycle time. While the conventional rapid heating technologies required dedicated facilities such as steam heating or high-frequency induction heating system and has a limitation in uniform heating, the purpose of this study was to develop a facile and conformal mold heating unit that uses a carbon nanotube (CNT) film heater. The CNT film heater was used to heat a curved mold with high temperature uniformity, by maintaining uniform distance from the mold surface. The developed conformal heating technology was then applied to a singly curved mold and a multiply curved mold. Considering that the resulting temperature uniformity is superior to the conventional oil heating, the conformal mold heating technology using the CNT film heater can be used to improve part quality and productivity in various molding processes.