Recent advances in thermal management via additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) has emerged as a transformative approach for advancing thermal management technologies, providing unprecedented freedom in design, material customization, and the implementation of novel thermal control strategies. This review presents a comprehensive overview of recent progress in AM-enabled thermal management, with an emphasis on enhancements in conductive, convective, boiling, and radiative heat transfer. AM facilitates the fabrication of complex architectures and composite materials with tailored thermal conductivities, substantially improving heat dissipation in diverse applications, including electronics, automotive systems, aerospace structures, and building technologies. Notably, recent developments in thermal metamaterials—such as structures capable of thermal cloaking and directional heat conduction—highlight the considerable potential of AM for manipulating complex thermal fields. Furthermore, the integration of phase change materials within AM-fabricated structures offers improved energy storage capacity and efficient thermal regulation. Future research should focus on the development of advanced composite materials, the integration of artificial intelligence for design optimization, the exploration of multifunctional metamaterials, and the advancement of sustainable and scalable AM processes. Hybrid and multimaterial AM techniques are particularly promising, enabling the fabrication of complex, functionally graded structures with precisely tailored thermal and mechanical properties. Addressing critical challenges—including structural integrity, microstructural control, material scalability, cost-effective production, and environmental sustainability—will further strengthen the role of AM in thermal management. In addition, the continued incorporation of high-fidelity computational simulations and real-time monitoring into AM workflows is expected to enhance process reliability and reproducibility. Expanding the range of AM applications to encompass lightweight and optically transparent polymer-based devices could unlock new avenues for thermal management in sensitive electronic and photonic systems.