This project brings together Carbon Forest Products and CSA Catapult to demonstrate the world’s first for use in automotive thermal management systems.
The project will prove that 3D printing using the novel material lignin—a low-cost, renewable by-product of the paper manufacturing industry. It can produce products with superior thermal and electrical properties.
The team will use selective laser sintering and 3D printing technology to demonstrate heatsinks specifically designed for the UK’s power electronics, machines and drives (PEMD) industry.
Heatsinks are important devices used in the electronics of vehicles to transfer heat from devices to the outer environment.
The lignin used in this project is derived from sustainable forestry feedstocks and will provide industry with a sustainable alternative to copper and aluminium at a time when mined copper resources are due to capacity, helping to meet Net Zero goals by 2050.
