Adding ceramic powder to liquid metal thermal paste improves cooling up to 72% says researchers

November 11

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A new colloidal thermal interface material (TIM) promises to significantly outperform commercially available liquid metals like Thermalright, Thermal Grizzly, and Coollaboratory products. Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering, part of the University of Texas, summarize their new invention as a mechanochemistry-engineered mix of Galinstan alloy and ceramic aluminum nitride. The bottom line is that the new TIM can outperform the best commercial liquid metal alternatives by between 56% and 72%, highlights Golem.de.

According to the researchers, the new TIM could reduce the cost and complexity of cooling power-hungry systems. “The power consumption of cooling infrastructure for energy-intensive data centers and other large electronic systems is skyrocketing,” noted Guihua Yu, professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering and Texas Materials Institute. “That trend isn’t dissipating anytime soon, so it’s critical to develop new ways, like the material we’ve created, for efficient and sustainable cooling of devices operating at kilowatt levels and even higher power.” The scientists go on to underline the fact that around 40% of a data center’s energy expenditure is on cooling.

A key cooling performance figure shared by the researchers is that the new TIM can cut the energy needed for the cooling pump by 65%. Its performance is such that it “can enable sustainable cooling in energy-intensive applications, from data centers to aerospace, paving the way for more efficient and eco-friendly technologies,” said Kai Wu, lead author in Yu’s lab. It is expected to be a compelling solution in AI data centers.

The major difference with this new TIM is how it is made into a colloidal substance using mechanochemistry. Basically, a liquid metal alloy called Galinstan (gallium, indium, and tin), is mixed with microscopically dispersed insoluble particles of ceramic aluminum nitride. A mechanochemistry technique ensures the optimal dispersion of the ceramic in the liquid metal – resulting in its attractive thermal properties.

Golem.de, which seems to have accessed the full scientific paper, notes that the researchers “achieved heat transfer resistances that were between 56 and 72 percent lower than the best liquid metals.”

Unsurprisingly, the Texas-based boffins frame the new thermal material as a great solution for energy-hungry data centers. However, their awareness of the commercially available liquid metal TIM products that are popular among PC enthusiasts is encouraging – it should speed the new colloidal TIM into the hands of Tom’s Hardware readers. In other words, we hope the researchers’ mention of brands like Thermal Grizzly will mean this new TIM’s manufacturing method and ingredients can be commercially licensed sooner rather than later.

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