Research on comprehensive heat transfer characteristics of AlSi7Mg TPMS heat sink manufactured by laser powder bed fusion

Heat sinks combined with the triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) show great potential in the field of electronic equipment and achieve efficient heat dissipation in limited working space while achieving structural lightweight. The comprehensive heat transfer characteristics of TPMS heat sinks, including Gyroid, Primitive, Diamond, and IWP, were investigated. The gradient TPMS structures with optimal comprehensive heat transfer performance were controlled by linear and quadratic functions and were also designed for high heat dissipation efficiency. Homogeneous and gradient TPMS heat dissipation models were manufactured by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) with AlSi7Mg powder. The average surface temperature, thermal resistance, heat transfer coefficient, and specific heat transfer coefficient of the heat sink were analyzed by the airflow channel device and infrared thermal imager. The results show that the Primitive structure has the best comprehensive heat transfer performance under forced convection. The integrated heat transfer of the Gyroid structure is the best without forced convection. In the gradient TPMS heat sink, the P-Quadratic ΙΙ structure has the best comprehensive heat transfer performance under forced convection and natural thermal conductivity. Compared with the homogeneous Primitive structure, the average convection heat transfer coefficient of P-Quadratic ΙΙ is increased by 13.44% ~ 19.78%， and the weight is reduced by 5.86%, which is suitable for the heat dissipation structure of electronic devices.