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Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Pradeep Menezes and his colleagues have published the article “,” in the Sept. 10 issue of the International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology. The article discusses a new ultrasonic-assisted electropolishing device pioneered by Menezes and the team to tackle the persistent issue of surface roughness in laser powder bed fusion-based additively manufactured copper heat exchanger components. While additive manufacturing enables the creation of intricate, highly accurate designs, the resulting surface roughness poses a challenge, particularly in aerospace applications. To address this, NASA partnered with Menezes’ lab at the Â鶹ӳ»­, providing additively manufactured heat exchanger components for testing. Menezes’ team successfully developed and validated a system capable of reducing surface roughness by over 60%, a crucial improvement, especially for internal channels where roughness increases fluid friction, reduces flow efficiency, and weakens corrosion resistance.