Additive manufacturing for producing microchannel heat sinks

The inability to produce 3D parts with high internal complexity and chip formation are significant disadvantages of machining processes. In contrast to machining, the wide range of materials and techniques of the additive manufacturing processes is a great step toward manufacturing the complicated ideas of designers in 3D form. The negligible dependence of additive manufacturing processes on factors such as the internal and external complexity, dimensional accuracy, and material of the 3D part has turned it into an innovative method to overcome the manufacturing problems of modern microchannel heat sinks. This review highlights the recent developments in producing physical microchannel heat sinks using additive manufacturing processes. Despite few studies conducted to produce microchannel heat sinks with 3D printing methods, the present study aims to assess the role of additive manufacturing in fabricating new microchannel heat sinks with higher efficiency and proper thermal performance to remove the heat generated from electronic systems.