KC-19-A003 -- Permeability and Rate-of-Rise of Additively-Manufactured Wicking Structures

Capillary-driven liquid motion has been used to enhance heat transfer performance in heat pipes and to prevent dryout in boiling using meshes, sinteredwicks, micro-pillars, and carbon nanotubes. These heat transfer enhancement methods have generally not been used in applications with low surface tensionfluids. This research uses low surface tension FC-40 to measure the rate of rise of two additively-manufactured wick structures. Permeability and effectivepore radius were also determined. The diamond and layered structures have porosities of 0.63 and 0.67, permeabilities of 36.6 μm2 and 55.6 μm2, andeffective pore radii of 214.6 μm and 275.3 μm, respectively.