Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Pradeep Menezes and his colleagues have published the article “Ultrasonic assisted electropolishing to reduce the surface roughness of laser powder bed fusion based additively manufactured copper heat exchanger components,” in the Sept. 10 issue of the International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology. The article discusses a new ultrasonic-assisted electropolishing device pioneered by Menezes and the team to tackle the persistent issue of surface roughness in laser powder bed fusion-based additively manufactured copper heat exchanger components. While additive manufacturing enables the creation of intricate, highly accurate designs, the resulting surface roughness poses a challenge, particularly in aerospace applications. To address this, NASA partnered with Menezes’ lab at the University of Nevada, Reno, providing additively manufactured heat exchanger components for testing. Menezes’ team successfully developed and validated a system capable of reducing surface roughness by over 60%, a crucial improvement, especially for internal channels where roughness increases fluid friction, reduces flow efficiency, and weakens corrosion resistance.
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