Parameter investigation of an organic–inorganic hybrid resin for a 3D-printed microchannel heat exchanger

Abstract

3D printing photocurable resin facilitates the fabrication of versatile polymer heat exchangers that have advantages of low cost, lightweight, antifouling, and anticorrosion properties over metal heat exchangers but suffer from low thermal stability, mechanical strength, and chemical resistance. Based on the intrinsic intermediate properties of preceramic polymers between polymers and ceramics, an organic–inorganic hybrid resin for a 3D-printed microchannel heat exchanger is formulated by adding an acrylate monomer and optimal cocktails of additives as well as printing parameters. The base resin was prepared by mixing preceramic allylhydridopolycarbosilane (AHPCS) known as a SiC ceramic precursor with 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA) to increase the curing kinetics, Sudan Orange G (SOG) as a resolution enhancer, and fumed silica as an anti-sticking agent. The 3D-printed structures from the hybrid resin were thermally post-cured at 260 °C for 3 h to investigate the thermo-physical properties such as modulus, hardness, thermal conductivity, and the coefficient of thermal expansion. Based on the result of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the 3D-printed and post-cured tube-in-tube type microchannel heat exchanger (3P-TMHE) was operated under elevated temperature and chemical conditions using DMSO at 70 °C. This study can act as a guideline for printing high-performance heat exchangers using diverse 3D printing technology for resin formulation.