'Fuzzy' Heat Sinks in our Future?

[TwisTtheTwiTcH]

Temperature management is a crucial factor in in making sure your gaming rig runs smoothly. In the fight against high temperatures the most common defender is the heat sink. Over at Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] they are working on new methods for making heat sinks, that could keep nuclear reactors cool.


"Sintering is a common process for creating copper heat sinks that involves packing powdered metals into a particular shape and baking it in a vacuum. A funny thing happens though, if you leave out the vacuum part of the equation: you don't get a solid shape, but a porous pile of particles with hollow, nanowire whiskers sticking out of it. The serendipitous discovery could lead to a new way to make heat sinks for everything from CPUs to boilers at power plants. Now researchers at MIT are trying the process with practically every material they can get their hands on. Of particular interest is zirconium, which could be used with fuel rods in nuclear reactors to improve efficiency. The idea of whisker-covered heat sinks may sound strange, but the potential for improving thermal management across a range of applications is huge. Just don't try and pet it -- these things tend to get a little toasty."

From Engadget

-TwisTtheTwiTcH

[Tracey]

"your gaming rig" made me LOL

[zack247]

the only thing i would worry about is that having lots of tiny whiskers on the heatsink would mean that dust could build up on it a lot easier.

otherwise, this is some science i approve of

[robin1989]

zack thats unlikely to happen as dust is primarily made up of dead human skin cells which i would guess are a lot bigger than these holes or whiskers as they are talking on a nano particle scale

[zack247]

what im saying is if dust can build up on a practically smooth heatsink surface, having those whiskers will help the dust build up more because theres more in the way of it.

[Kool1zero]

i agree with zack on this one, you ever opened a computer case? ever? there is ALWAYS dust. even if you know have filters on them.

however, i also agree with mendez that most of dust is human skin cells. that doesnt however mean there \wont be OTHER things that are in dust or that the fans wont pull dust in. they also suggest many many other uses besides just CPU coolers and boilers. any number of the other applications could be highyl suceptible to dust, and once its full of dust i expect it wont only be hard to clean, but veery inferior at conducting heat as well

[Crumbz]

well considering the applications these are being tested for im pretty sure dust wouldnt be a problem since the heatsink would most likely burn off most of the dust due to the high amounts of heat traveling up the heatsink fins.

I mean think of an xbox heatsink... the one attached to the main CPU gets hot pretty darn fast (or at least mine does)

[zack247]

well actually crumbz, have you noticed that you really have to try if you want to get the dust off xbox heatsinks?
i have one with a heatpipe (came out of an arcade model) that has dust practically burned onto it, even with a brush i cant get it off very easy.
also if you look at the bottom of the dvd drive dust mightve been burned onto there too, at least it was on the xbox i got a hold of.

[FOOKz™]

well actually crumbz, have you noticed that you really have to try if you want to get the dust off xbox heatsinks?
i have one with a heatpipe (came out of an arcade model) that has dust practically burned onto it, even with a brush i cant get it off very easy.
also if you look at the bottom of the dvd drive dust mightve been burned onto there too, at least it was on the xbox i got a hold of.

Some of it can be oxidants too.

zack thats unlikely to happen as dust is primarily made up of dead human skin cells which i would guess are a lot bigger than these holes or whiskers as they are talking on a nano particle scale

That's like trying to fit a basketball through a garden hose LOL

[PsychoticWolf]

That's like trying to fit a basketball through a garden hose LOL

FTFY

Thats like sucking a basketball through a garden hose?

[FOOKz™]

FTFY

Thats like sucking a basketball through a garden hose?

full metal jacket reference LOLOLOLOL