Turning up the heat

The Air Force Research Laboratory recently established a state-of-the-art testing capability for new additive manufactured heat exchangers (HX) in a project led by UDRI with partners DRT Aerospace and General Electric. This innovative new testing capability provides valuable data on the advantages and limitations of producing fuel-oil coolers, a type of heat exchanger, via additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, as part of AFRL’s Maturation of Advanced Manufacturing for Low-cost Sustainment (MAMLS) program.  Read more about this HX research effort

The new testing capability is just one of UDRI's AM research efforts that support and assist AFRL in leveraging AM as a cost-efficient means of producing new technology components and replacing legacy technology components throughout the Air Force.

Top: A first demonstration fuel-oil cooler currently being tested using AFRL’s new heat exchanger (HX) testing capability. (U.S. Air Force photo/Spencer Deer)

Nov. 7, 2019