The Jury of the Scientific Article of the Term Award of the Higher Technical School of Engineering, after recognizing the high quality of all the publications in the competition, has unanimously decided to award the “Scientific Article of the Term Award of the ETSI: July-September 2021” to the following work:

“Effect of processing parameters on the properties of freeze-cast Ni wick with gradient porosity”, Material & Design, Volume 206, August 2021, 109795, by Javier Lloreda Jurado, Ernesto Chicardi, Antonio Paúl and Ranier Sepúlveda. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2021.109795

Materials & Design (Q1, IF: 7.999) publishes open access articles on the latest advances in the relationship between the structure, properties and design of materials, framed within the design of engineering systems and technological applications.

This work proposes an alternative manufacturing process for porous wicks with gradient porosity for use in passive cooling systems ( loop heat pipes ) or heat pipes, using the freeze-casting technique of nanometric NiO particles. The use of stearic acid as a dispersing agent, compared to current commercial solutions, has allowed for the production of wicks with high pore interconnectivity by generating more stable particle suspensions and smaller agglomerate sizes.

This development is part of the research carried out by the Powder and Corrosion Technology Group (GrupoTPC_US; PAIDI TEP973) at the University of Seville, on which Pedro Javier Lloreda Jurado successfully completed his doctorate. Dr. Lloreda Jurado recently joined the Institute of Materials Science of Seville as a specialist technician to continue his research training.

This award is funded through a Grant for Scientific Dissemination Activities of the VII Research and Transfer Plan of the University of Seville.