Thanks to a mechanochemically engineered combination of the liquid metal alloy Galinstan and ceramic aluminum nitride, this thermal interface material, or TIM, outperformed the best commercial liquid...
Why it matters: Data centers are hot, both figuratively and literally. As we feed more and more data and processing demands into these server farms, keeping them from overheating is becoming an increasingly expensive and energy-intensive challenge. But researchers at the University of Texas may have a cool solution – a new thermal interface material that can whisk heat away from processors better than the likes of Thermalright and Thermal Grizzly. metal cooling products by a staggering 56-72% in lab tests. It allowed dissipation of up to 2,760 watts of heat from just a 16 square centimeter area. The material pulls this off by bridging the gap between the theoretical heat transfer limits of these materials and what's achieved in real products. Through mechanochemistry, the liquid metal and ceramic ingredients are mixed in an extremely controlled way, creating gradient interfaces…