Indeed Dave.
I was hoping to remind the main participants that if there's a resulting application, it ought to be outlined in such a way so that one can understand the purpose of it: I think we lost Hara a couple days back.
I understand the concept of the crystaline structures within the copper, and I can somewhat follow how a certain process may yield an improvement, but I do indeed need to understand better the extent of the potential improvement, as it applies to a waterblock. Sometimes I'll state something that I know is incorrect, to sollicit an answer (to BillA's great frustration
)
For those interested in this topic, but not able to get too deep in it, I'd recomend an old pocket book that I found most interesting:
"The new science of strong materials", by J. E. Gordon (mostly about structure, not about conductivity).