Nowadays, metallic additive manufacturing technology represents a huge in-novation field for the aerospace industry. In this context, 3D printed trabecular structures seem to be very promising for application in light and multifunctional structures. This particular class of materials, allowed by these novel manufactur-ing processes, represents an evolution with respect the classic metal foams in terms of mechanical and thermal performances, passing from a stochastic to a deterministic control of the material. Many studies have been conducted in order to understand their effective applicability in modern engineering solutions. As concern this thesis work, it participates in the development process of an innova-tive integrated ice protection system for aircraft wing leading edges, with a study and a verification of 3D-printed lattice structures and their heat transfer efficien-cy.