Electric vehicles have been a primary focus of research in recent times to develop environmentally friendly and sustainable transportation systems in the long run. Fast charging of these electric vehicles needs enhanced heat dissipation by efficient heat exchangers through high thermal conductivity, low heat capacity and large surface areas. Additive manufacturing, in contrast to conventional manufacturing methods, enables the production of heat exchangers with the targeted structural requirements and functionally integrated air flow structures to increase the efficiency of the heat exchange. One of the best materials to use for this purpose is Cu.

The processing of pure Cu by laser-based additive manufacturing processes is not only expensive, but also complex due the high reflectivity and associated low absorption of Cu and the high thermal conductivity, leading to defects and increased internal stresses in printed parts. In this study, the cheaper binder jetting (BJT) process is used to manufacture parts in a 3-step process of printing, debinding and sintering . The parts were printed layer-by-layer levelling a Cu powder bed and selectively applying a binder through a printhead. After removing excess powder, the so-called green parts, then undergo a debinding heat treatment to remove the binder. These samples are then sintered at high temperature under a reducing atmosphere to produce the final manufactured part. 

This study creates a correlation between the microstructure of the atomized powder and that of the final sintered part. In order to investigate the usability of these BJT produced parts in real world applications of heat exchangers, structural stability and heat conductivity of the sintered parts were studied in conjunction with the evolution of the microstructure of these parts at high temperature and times.