Pro/Forums - View Single Post - Brass as a water block? Possibly a very cheap block

Butcher · 03-15-2002, 08:30 AM

Alloys of materials do not maintain the same thermal conductivity as merely mixing the materials.
Here's a few numbers:
Yellow Brass (65/35) - 116W/m-K
Red Brass (85/15) - 159W/m-K
Al 1050-O (99.6/) - 234W/m-K
Al 6063-O (98.9/) - 218W/m-K
Al 6063-T5 (98.9/) - 209W/m-K
Cu C11000 (99.9/) - 388W/m-K

Al smokes brass, Cu smokes Al.
Now most Al HSFs are made of one of the various tempers of Al 6063, T5 is certainly one used, I doubt O is used (O is annealed Al). As you can see even tempering reduces the conductivity.
Cu blocks / HSFs are made from standard C11000 copper mostly, nice high conductivity.
Brass is well below both, plumbing items in home depot are most likely yellow brass, barely above half as good as even Al. Better to get yourself a cheap chunk of copper and drill it.

03-15-2002, 08:30 AM	#16
Butcher Thermophile Join Date: May 2001 Location: UK Posts: 1,064	Alloys of materials do not maintain the same thermal conductivity as merely mixing the materials. Here's a few numbers: Yellow Brass (65/35) - 116W/m-K Red Brass (85/15) - 159W/m-K Al 1050-O (99.6/) - 234W/m-K Al 6063-O (98.9/) - 218W/m-K Al 6063-T5 (98.9/) - 209W/m-K Cu C11000 (99.9/) - 388W/m-K Al smokes brass, Cu smokes Al. Now most Al HSFs are made of one of the various tempers of Al 6063, T5 is certainly one used, I doubt O is used (O is annealed Al). As you can see even tempering reduces the conductivity. Cu blocks / HSFs are made from standard C11000 copper mostly, nice high conductivity. Brass is well below both, plumbing items in home depot are most likely yellow brass, barely above half as good as even Al. Better to get yourself a cheap chunk of copper and drill it. __________________ Once upon a time, in a land far far away...