High Temperature Additively Manufactured Monolithic Heat Pipe Radiators

Emerging high intensity nuclear and chemical combustion based spacecraft power and propulsion systems will need waste heat rejection radiators that can operate efficiently at high temperatures and heat fluxes. This project seeks to meet this need by developing and experimentally demonstrating high temperature additively manufactured (AM) monolithic metal heat pipe radiators (HPRs). These HPRs would be produced from corrosion-resistant materials in a single AM process that would form integral vascular vapor passages, porous liquid-wicking structures, and fin sections. Embedded heat pipes would passively circulate high temperature phase-change heat transfer fluids. Open-source multiphysics radiative, thermal-fluid, and structural optimization tools will be developed and shared to guide high performance designs that can withstand mechanical loads from flight and long-term thermal stresses.

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