CoolPoly Thermally Conductive Plastics? Cool!

[VegasF6]

Any of you aware of this stuff yet? Looks interesting to say the least! Thermally conductive plastic, both electrically conductive, and non conductive (esd safe) plastics. Also, can be used to make reflectors that would help wick away heat, as well as heatsinks for the die itself. I discovered it being used for CPU coolers and thought, wow, that has potential for LED cooling. Well, apparently the manufacturers thought so too.

http://www.coolpolymers.com/led.asp

I wonder how machinable this stuff is? Otherwise, maybe it is time to throw away the lathes and buy a crucible and start heat molding, hah.

If this stuff is old news I apologize, first I have heard of it though.

 

[A123Powered]

I am not versed in the science, but according to the datasheet (E5101), the thermal conductivity is 20 W/mK. This page shows that Aluminum has a thermal conductivity of 250 W/mK (12.5 times greater):

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html

I am sure there are other things to consider when it comes to a good heatsink material though.

 

[Tekno_Cowboy]

All things are thermally conductive, its' just a matter of how much:devil:

 

[VegasF6]

Tekno-Cowboy, that is a good point I suppose, but I bet you know what I mean, hah.

But, of course the point of this is, it's relatively cheap, light weight, and can be injection molded, so can be mass produced easily. Could have some potential.

A123Powered:
The conductivity (of heat) of aluminum does vary somewhat. I have found claims of 200 W/mk as well as 250. But, those are pure aluminum, which would be pretty useless. The aluminum alloys used in are case are quite a bit different than pure.

I don't actually do any machining myself, but I suggest we try and find the thermal conductivity of the alloys used here. Obviously some alloys are harder, some conduct heat better, some are for machining and some arent. Some are for welding, some won't take annodizing, etc. Some are entirely TOO soft

And speaking of annodizing, especially HA, or type III, from what I have read it makes a great insulator, just the opposite of what most of us are trying to achieve. From what I read, average annodized aluminum now has a thermal efficiency of 7 W/mk! Quite a bit less effiient that than non conductive polymer. Of course, I may be misunderstanding what I am reading since this is all new to me.

Then, let's look at thermal paste. Thermal grease on it's own may be rated at .5 to 2.5 W/mk. Horrible. The only thing that makes this stuff work is the metals embedded in it, in the case of say, Arctic Silver or something. Well, that's fine, IF you aren't worried about it being conductive (electrical conductive I mean) but otherwise, it's a big problem. I didn't research how arctic alumina or ceramic holds up to this argument. But, coolpoly has a soft elastomer product (D8102) that disipates 12 watts per meter. Not bad.

Here is a quick drawing from the web page to attempt to demonstrate something or other (not very technical, huh?)
http://www.coolpolymers.com/heattrans.html
They claim to have products as high as 100 W/mk.

The purpose of my posting this isn't to create an argument or anything, it is simply to say I don't think someone should look at this and think "hey, it's not as good as aluminum so it has no use." I believe it would bear greater research. In all reality it probably won't have much use for the small home hobbyist, but would be of more value to a large manufacturer with a production line and injection molding, die molding or something else along these lines.

Enjoy!

 

[LukeA]

Tekno-Cowboy, that is a good point I suppose, but I bet you know what I mean, hah.

But, of course the point of this is, it's relatively cheap, light weight, and can be injection molded, so can be mass produced easily. Could have some potential.

A123Powered:
The conductivity (of heat) of aluminum does vary somewhat. I have found claims of 200 W/mk as well as 250. But, those are pure aluminum, which would be pretty useless. The aluminum alloys used in are case are quite a bit different than pure.

I don't actually do any machining myself, but I suggest we try and find the thermal conductivity of the alloys used here. Obviously some alloys are harder, some conduct heat better, some are for machining and some arent. Some are for welding, some won't take annodizing, etc. Some are entirely TOO soft

And speaking of annodizing, especially HA, or type III, from what I have read it makes a great insulator, just the opposite of what most of us are trying to achieve. From what I read, average annodized aluminum now has a thermal efficiency of 7 W/mk! Quite a bit less effiient that than non conductive polymer. Of course, I may be misunderstanding what I am reading since this is all new to me.

Then, let's look at thermal paste. Thermal grease on it's own may be rated at .5 to 2.5 W/mk. Horrible. The only thing that makes this stuff work is the metals embedded in it, in the case of say, Arctic Silver or something. Well, that's fine, IF you aren't worried about it being conductive (electrical conductive I mean) but otherwise, it's a big problem. I didn't research how arctic alumina or ceramic holds up to this argument. But, coolpoly has a soft elastomer product (D8102) that disipates 12 watts per meter. Not bad.

Here is a quick drawing from the web page to attempt to demonstrate something or other (not very technical, huh?)
http://www.coolpolymers.com/heattrans.html
They claim to have products as high as 100 W/mk.

The purpose of my posting this isn't to create an argument or anything, it is simply to say I don't think someone should look at this and think "hey, it's not as good as aluminum so it has no use." I believe it would bear greater research. In all reality it probably won't have much use for the small home hobbyist, but would be of more value to a large manufacturer with a production line and injection molding, die molding or something else along these lines.

Enjoy!

I very much like the electrically insulative ones, but I wonder how much the stuff costs.