The heat dissipation of a metal heat sink for passive cooling can be enhanced by surface modifications to increase its thermal emissivity, which is reflected by a darker surface appearance. In this study, copper electrodeposition followed by heat treatment was applied to a copper substrate. The heat treatment formed a nanoporous oxide layer containing CuO and Cu₂O, which has a dark blackish color and therefore increased the thermal emissivity of the surface. The heat dissipation performance was evaluated using the sample as a heat sink for an LED module. The surface-treated copper heat sink with a high thermal emissivity oxide layer enhanced the heat dissipation of the LED module and allowed it to be operated at a lower temperature. With an increase in the heat treatment, the thermal emissivity increases to 0.865, but the thermal diffusivity is lower than the copper substrate by ~12%. These results indicate that the oxide layer is a thermal barrier for heat transfer, thus optimization between the oxide thickness and thermal emissivity is required by evaluating heat dissipation performance in operating conditions. In this study, an oxide layer with an emissivity of 0.857 and ~5% lower thermal diffusivity than the copper substrate showed the lowest LED operating temperature.

Sealing as a post treatment of anodized aluminum is required to enhance the corrosion resistance by filling nanopores, which allow the penetration of corrosive media toward the base aluminum. We designed a mixed sealing solution with nickel acetate and ammonium fluoride by modifying traditional nickel fluoride cold sealing. The concentration of mixed sealing solution affected the reaction rate of sealing and corrosion current density of anodized aluminum alloy. The higher concentration of mixed sealing solution improved the sealing rate, which was represented by a decrease of corrosion current density of anodized aluminum alloy. However, a mixed sealing solution with 2/3 concentration of general nickel fluoride sealing solution operated at room temperature showed the lowest corrosion current density compared to traditional methods (e.g., nickel fluoride cold sealing (NFCS) and nickel acetate hot sealing) and other mixed sealing solutions. Moreover, the mixed sealing solution with 2/3 concentration of general NFCS had a lower risk for over sealing, which increases the corrosion current density by excessive dissolution of anodic oxide. Therefore, the mixed sealing solution with optimized conditions designed in this work possibly provides a new method for enhancing the corrosion resistance of anodized aluminum alloys.

Among various processes for manufacturing complex-shaped metal parts, additive manufacturing is highlighted as a process capable of reducing the wastage of materials without requiring a post-process, such as machining and finishing. In particular, it is a suitable new manufacturing technology for producing AISI H13 tool steel for hot-worked molds with complex cooling channels. In this study, we manufactured AISI H13 tool steel using the laser power bed fusion (LPBF) process and investigated the effects of tempering temperature and holding time on its microstructure and mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the sub-grain cell microstructure of the AISI H13 tool steel manufactured using the LPBF process were superior to that of the H13 tool steel manufactured using the conventional method. These sub-grain cells decomposed and disappeared during the austenitizing process; however, the mechanical properties could be restored at a tempering temperature of 500 °C or higher owing to the secondary hardening and distribution of carbides. Furthermore, the mechanical properties deteriorated because of the decomposition of the martensite phase and the accumulation and coarsening of carbides when over-tempering occurred at 500 °C for 5 h and 550 °C for 3 h.