Advanced Applications of Additive Manufacturing in the Design and Fabrication of High-Performance Aerospace Heat Exchangers

The aerospace sector increasingly demands lightweight, compact, and high-performance thermal management systems due to escalating performance and environmental expectations. Among these systems, heat exchangers are essential for engine cooling, electronic thermal regulation, and environmental control systems. Additive Manufacturing (AM) has recently emerged as a disruptive technology capable of overcoming traditional manufacturing constraints by enabling the production of highly complex, integrated, and efficient heat exchanger geometries. This paper provides a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art AM applications in aerospace heat exchangers, including material innovations, design methodologies such as topology optimization and lattice infills, manufacturing process integration, and case studies from NASA, GE, and Airbus. Challenges related to certification, quality assurance, and surface finishing are critically analyzed. The paper concludes by highlighting emerging research trends and the transformative potential of AM in next-generation aerospace thermal systems.