The present invention discloses a shape memory alloy based adaptive fin for thermal management. The adaptive thermal fin (100) comprises a first fin (102), at least one primary clamp unit (104), a second fin (108), at least two secondary clamp units (110), a plurality of primary springs (114) and a plurality of secondary springs (116). The adaptive thermal fin (100) is designed based on a bio-inspired muscle arrangement. The adaptive thermal fin provides an adaptive thermal dissipation by a variable heat transfer rate with an environment, mimicking the natural heat transfer mechanism. The shape memory alloy based adaptive thermal fin (100) has application in diverse engineering domains including one of automotive including conventional and non-conventional electric vehicles (EVs), aerospace, and defence, environment control computer electronics, etc. FIG. 1