Better material possibility for heatsinks / waterblocks
 

http://www.ctd-materials.com/products/electricins.htm


Now, I have no idea what they rate as high thermal conductivity, but if its near the copper level AND is electrically insulative, wouldn't this make a rather nice heatsink?

It looks to be a thermal insulator, but I may be wrong.

Hmmm... how is it that we care about non-electrical-conductivity in a waterblock?
Just wondering...

They said "The low thermal expansion and high thermal conductivity of this insulation also improve coil performance." Its an electrical insulator with thermal conductive properties.


First off, it depends on how its made. If its initially a liquid state, you could create a poured on waterblock - cooling all the ICs with no chance of electrical shorting.

Even if its a solid, there is still the benefit of no more galvanic issues. Its possibly easier to create, probably a lot easier to machine.

I really have little idea what it is beyond the "ceramic/epoxy" part of their description. If I had to guess, I'd bet it was the binary compound that cures to a nice solid. I was initially thinking that you could just make a kick ass videocard cooler with it - get all your ram and gpu with one mold, make it easy to mass produce, no chance of shorting. And if its a liquid initially, you have the potential to avoid many of the thermal interface material issues.

Given that this is a new type of electrical insulator, I don't see how it would be useful to us.

I requests some information from the company. If its what I think, I'll get a demo together and show you why I think it might be very cool for making water blocks.

It would be pretty kool if you could just make a mold and pour it to build and entire water block. Could drastically change the types of designs people create. Not to mention let a lot more people make their own blocks. Its a lot easier to make a foam mold than to obtain a milling machine...

I don't see anything to suggest is should be used for a water block. Looks like it is used for insulation for making superconducting magnets and stuff. Doesn't say the material itself is superconducting...

i also like to know if it is porous in structure...i meant, even Cu and Al "sweat" if pressure is a little too high.....

the .pdf on it says it is initially porous but they use the expoy resin to give it strength, shape, and fill in the gaps.

Nope. As I've said, the only claim they are making is that it is strong, electrically insulative, and thermally conductive.

I was thinking of wrapping my whole video card in something like this, running 1/2" copper tubing, and seeing how well it works. Electrically insulating = no shorts. So you can cool everything in one wrap/dip/mold/whatever.

Well highly thermaly conductive could mean anything. It could be less than aluminum or more than copper. We need a number. :cool:

They mean thermal conductivity in the context of electrical insulation and padding for cryogenic superconductors. Also the product is intended to dissipate some heat during manufacture.

I think in most applications this thermal conductivity needn't be very great, or even shouldn't be. All insulation conducts some heat off live wires, in any case.

For sure the company would love to develop just what you're looking for, Tempus, and, personally, I'd love to see waterblocks manufactured differently than as now.

"I'd love to see waterblocks manufactured differently than as now."

stay tuned, say 3-4 months (NDA applies)

o0.... another cryptic message :D