Thermal Conductivity of Advanced 3D Printed Polymers

Additive manufacturing is increasingly being employed in the production of parts for end-use applications. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is a type of 3d printing in which a molten thermoplastic is extruded to create the desired geometry. FDM has not been significantly used in heat transfer applications, but if parts with somewhat higher thermal conductivity than is currently obtainable with commonly used FDM polymers (ABS and PLA) can be produced, many potential heat transfer applications could be studied for potential use in real-world applications such as heat exchangers or heatsinks. We have previously presented our work in developing an apparatus for measuring the thermal conductivity of 3d printed materials. In the experimental study presented here, the effective thermal conductivity of many advanced FDM materials is measured using that purpose-built apparatus. The performance of the test apparatus was first validated using a sample of acrylic, a low-conductivity material in which the conductivity is well understood. Next, the thermal conductivities of parts printed from several advanced 3d printing polymer filaments were measured. The filaments tested included natural PLA, as well as composite filaments of aluminum and copper with PLA. The parts produced from composite filaments show a significantly higher thermal conductivity than those using the pure polymer material.