Enhanced nucleate pool boiling performance of aluminum alloy coatings fabricated by cold spray additive manufacturing

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Prof. Rocco Lupoir, lupoir@tcd.ie, Trinity College Dublin; Yan Cheny, chen21@tcd.ie, Trinity College Dublin; Prof. Anthony Robins, AROBINS@tcd.ie, Trinity College Dublin; Prof. Shuo Yin, yins@tcd.ie, Trinity College Dublin; Research Fellow Prasad Kangude, kangudep@tcd.ie, Trinity College Dublin; 

https://doi.org/10.53192/ITSC2026564

Roughened surfaces hold great potential for enhancing boiling heat transfer. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of using cold spray additive manufacturing (CSAM) to fabricate enhanced boiling surfaces, specifically focusing on the deposition of aluminum coatings on Al6082 substrates. The method offers a fast and low-cost approach for producing enhanced boiling surfaces.
Typically, CSAM deposition of aluminum powder results in dense Al coatings. However, in this work, porous aluminum coatings with a honeycomb surface structure were successfully produced by pre-marking the substrate prior to spraying. Key CSAM parameters and surface pre-treatment conditions, such as the size and distribution of surface cavities, were identified to enable the reproducible formation of porous structures.
Following deposition, all samples underwent systematic pool boiling experiments using a dedicated test apparatus. Boiling curves were generated for the CSAM-enhanced surfaces and compared to the untreated bare substrate to assess heat transfer enhancement. Initial data analysis showed that all tested surfaces exhibited significant improvements in Critical Heat Flux (CHF). This enhancement is likely attributed to increased surface area, higher nucleation site density, enhanced capillary wicking, and suppression of lateral bubble coalescence.
In summary, the honeycomb-structured aluminum surfaces fabricated via the CSAM process show strong potential for industrial applications where high-performance boiling heat transfer is essential. Importantly, the process is industrially scalable and offers a cost-effective and rapid way to coat large surface areas compared to conventional subtractive and other metal additive manufacturing techniques.

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March 2026

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