Ultimate heatsink and thermal material?

jambus

jambus

jambus

Associate
Joined
15 Jan 2008
Posts
420
Location
Petersfield, UK
OK, so was watching discovery channel this morning... as you do... and saw a programme about the space shuttles heat shield, apparently the protective shields plates are made of like, silica and they are so thermally conductive that after being heated to around 3000 degrees, you can remove it from the kiln or oven and around ten seconds later touch it with bare hands... where can I get hold of this and do you reckon this is just the ultimate heatsink material... I'm guessing cost is an issue... could anyone please shed some light on this?
 
So, what you're saying is, you would like to use NASA space shuttle technology to cool your Wolfdale? :D

Then again, as it would probably replace thermal compound/grease, you would only need like an 1inch square piece at about half a mil thick. Then again, then heatsink would also need to match it, as copper wouldn't be able to compete with the ehat being transferred.
 
Not an expert but isn't this the wrong way round to what you actually want?

The heat tiles used in the shuttle are insulators not thermal conductors, if they were conductors they'd pass on their heat to the actual shuttle skin which is what they are trying to protect.
 
IAmATeaf said:
Not an expert but isn't this the wrong way round to what you actually want?

The heat tiles used in the shuttle are insulators not thermal conductors, if they were conductors they'd pass on their heat to the actual shuttle skin which is what they are trying to protect.
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Spot on. This nasa tech would be worse than nothing. The chip would cook itself in seconds...
 
^^Haha,Yeh actually good point, they abosrb heat, but the reason they don't burn your hands is because it doesn't pass the heat on. Which in a heatsink sense would mean the heat isn't taken away from the CPU, just shared.
Off the top of my head, if you wan't to get sciency about it, it would be a material with an extremely tight molecular structure, a pretty solid material which completely passes on any heat transfered. Would probably be an alloy of some sort. Research time!
 
Weyhey, i was right. Diamond, being of a very tight/dense and uniform molecular structure (the secret to it's strength) makes it probably the best natural conductor, as seen in the table below:

Cement, portland [1] 0.29
Concrete, stone [2] 1.7
Air 0.025
Wood 0.04 - 0.4
Alcohols and oils 0.1 - 0.21
Soil 1.5
Rubber 0.16
Epoxy (unfilled) 0.19
Epoxy (silica-filled) 0.30
Water (liquid) 0.6
Thermal grease 0.7 - 3
Glass 1.1
Ice 2
Sandstone 2.4
Stainless steel[3] 12.11 ~ 45.0
Lead 35.3
Aluminium 237
Gold 318
Copper 401
Silver 429
Diamond 900 - 2320
LPG 0.23 - 0.26


Like the look of silver though, surely not that expensive to produce a heatsink from this?, though the benefit seems marginal.

Proof that stock retention method is crap

Any heatsink where you have to almost snap the mobo in two to secure it properly is the win, and that push plug system is as tight as....nah better not :D
 
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er I'm sorry but the reason it cools so quick is because it CONDUCTS the thermal energy to the surroundings super efficiently... it's the same principle as watercooling, better conductor for conducting the heat away than just simple air cooling... or is my university level physics serving me badly here... :S and yes, I want to cool my wolfdale with Nasa tech. =D Hey, they might give me a free spaceshuttle ride for acting as an advertisment. Nasa Personal computer cooling technologies =D
 
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Not to be a pedant but...

The heat shield on the space shuttle would be an insulator. It doesn't cool down because it never got hot in the first place. It may have been in a kiln at 3000 degrees, but that doesn't mean it itself was at that temperature. If it did conduct all that energy, where did it go?
 
melbourne720 said:
Not to be a pedant but...

The heat shield on the space shuttle would be an insulator. It doesn't cool down because it never got hot in the first place. It may have been in a kiln at 3000 degrees, but that doesn't mean it itself was at that temperature. If it did conduct all that energy, where did it go?
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More importantly consider sitting in a kiln. Would you rather be in an insulated box or a heat-conducting box...

Now consider how hot it must get on re-entry... Bit like a really hot kiln. So given that astronaughts don't come back BBQed I don't think they put conductive material on the outside of the shuttle...
 
Chris Beard said:
More importantly consider sitting in a kiln. Would you rather be in an insulated box or a heat-conducting box...

Now consider how hot it must get on re-entry... Bit like a really hot kiln. So given that astronaughts don't come back BBQed I don't think they put conductive material on the outside of the shuttle...
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Spot on :)
 
jambus said:
er I'm sorry but the reason it cools so quick is because it CONDUCTS the thermal energy to the surroundings super efficiently... it's the same principle as watercooling, better conductor for conducting the heat away than just simple air cooling... or is my university level physics serving me badly here... :S and yes, I want to cool my wolfdale with Nasa tech. =D Hey, they might give me a free spaceshuttle ride for acting as an advertisment. Nasa Personal computer cooling technologies =D
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I'd suggest going back to square 1 and having a re-think, just sit back and read and re-read what you've written above. :) then imagine what would happen to the space shuttle on re-entry if what you've typed above were true.
 
melbourne720 said:
Not to be a pedant but...

The heat shield on the space shuttle would be an insulator. It doesn't cool down because it never got hot in the first place. It may have been in a kiln at 3000 degrees, but that doesn't mean it itself was at that temperature. If it did conduct all that energy, where did it go?
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I've actually held a space tile in my bare hand at 1300°C :eek: I was at an open day at the Materials Science department at Birmingham Uni......if you don't believe me you can ask my Dad :p:p

The tile is actually at 1300°C (or 3000°C) its just that it is such a poor thermal conductor that only a very tiny amount of that heat energy is transfer to my hand (or the shuttle). The cube I held was glowing red :eek:

To the OP, you've got it completely the wrong way round. Using such a superb insulator at a heatsink makes no sense.

Those of you that remember the good old days of Athlon Thunderbirds and the amount of heat they chucked out will recall the coolers made completely with copper or silver. The best combination was actually copper base with aluminium fins. While silver and copper can remove the heat very quickly from the cpu they aren't the best at transferring that heat to the air, aluminium is a good option here.
 
MTA99 said:
I've actually held a space tile in my bare hand at 1300°C :eek: I was at an open day at the Materials Science department at Birmingham Uni......if you don't believe me you can ask my Dad :p:p

The tile is actually at 1300°C (or 3000°C) its just that it is such a poor thermal conductor that only a very tiny amount of that heat energy is transfer to my hand (or the shuttle). The cube I held was glowing red :eek:

To the OP, you've got it completely the wrong way round. Using such a superb insulator at a heatsink makes no sense.
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melbourne720 said:
Not to be a pedant but...

The heat shield on the space shuttle would be an insulator.
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:confused: We agree... :D That's what I was saying! Poor conductor = Good insulator = bad heatsink
 
melbourne720 said:
:confused: We agree... :D That's what I was saying! Poor conductor = Good insulator = bad heatsink
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We agree that its an insulator but I don't agree that the tile isn't at an elevated temperature. If you soak a tile for long enough in the furnace it will reach 1000°C+
 
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