Additively Manufacturing Nitinol as a Solid-State Phase Change Material

This study reports the use of Additively Manufactured nitinol as a high-performance metallic solid-solid phase change material. Compared to standard phase change materials, which offer point solutions, it's shown here that latent heat, thermal conductivity, and transformation temperature can be tuned in additively manufactured nitinol by adjusting the chemistry, processing parameters, and heat treatment. Leveraging these results, a 28% reduction in peak temperature during a simulated transient electronic application is demonstrated. It's anticipated that these perennial results, combined with future optimization efforts, will encourage new phase change material development and architecture designs.