New Heatsink Material - Copper-diamond Alloy

[D_o_S]

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have developed a new material which allows better cooling than the conventional copper and aluminum solutions. To achieve this result, diamond powder has been added to metallic copper. Diamond conducts heat five times better than copper.

The result is a bond with 1.5 times the heat conduction of copper. Another advantage is that the material does not expand too much when heated, otherwise it couldn't be used in electronic devices.


It's not easy to create a stable bond between copper and diamond. The researchers use small amounts of chrome, which will form carbide-layers on the diamond, allowing copper to create bonds. It's possible that there are other materials with similar features.

As of yet, the material is only being demonstrated, whereas in the future it may find its way into notebooks, where heat dissipation has always been a problem.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Error 404]

This would be epic for air and water cooling setups! This is better than the marketing gimmick posted a while back where a graphics card heatsink company had made a "diamond alloy coated" copper HS, which supposedly could dissipate heat faster...

 

[crazy pyro]

Solid diamond heatsinks for extreme overclockers?

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

They will probably tip each heatfin with diamond eventually or something like that.

 

[WarEagleAU]

Im sure the cost will be added in as well. Diamond is the best conductor of heat, however it costs an arm and a leg

 

[Error 404]

They will probably tip each heatfin with diamond eventually or something like that.

So, if you throw your bread at it, you'll have instant sliced toast!

 

[Hayder_Master]

i see many creative things in this month

 

[aCid888*]

Just what I always wanted; an heatsink that costs more than my rig!!

 

[Marineborn]

i would most likely purchase it, the new computer fad of the future! Pimp out my computeR! HAHAHAHAHAH

 

[crazy pyro]

If I had a wndow in my case it would have to look inconspicuous... The tracers are already a bit garish.

 

[Evo85]

I wondered when SOMEONE would run with this concept.

 

[mdm-adph]

Im sure the cost will be added in as well. Diamond is the best conductor of heat, however it costs an arm and a leg

Not... really. Though I'm sure De Beers loves that the common conception remains thus.

 

[DaveK]

Interesting but I don't see it being that popular, hell, a lot of the heatsinks you see now don't even have a copper base...

I'd like to see a copper heatsink with a silver base

 

[Easy Rhino]

you know the saying that "diamonds are a woman's best friend." I think we can say they are now a man's best friend as well!

 

[3870x2]

YES! the price of a cooler will be measured by how many karats it is.

Now De Beers will be making Heatsinks!!!

 

[celemine1Gig]

Researchers at Fraunhofer-Forscher have developed a new material which allows better cooling than the conventional copper and aluminum solutions. To achieve this result, diamond powder has been added to metallic copper. Diamond conducts heat five times better than copper.

The result is a bond with 1.5 times the heat conduction of copper. Another advantage is that the material does not expand too much when heated, otherwise it couldn't be used in electronic devices.


It's not easy to create a stable bond between copper and diamond. The researchers use small amounts of chrome, which will form carbide-layers on the diamond, allowing copper to create bonds. It's possible that there are other materials with similar features.

As of yet, the material is only being demonstrated, whereas in the future it may find its way into notebooks, where heat dissipation has always been a problem.

Source: Hardware.Info

Could you please correct the marked part.
It's "Fraunhofer Institute", or "Fraunhofer IFAM".

"Fraunhofer Forscher" just means Fraunhofer researchers.

Officially it's "Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Applied Materials Research".

BTW, here is a link:
http://www.ifam-dd.fraunhofer.de/fhg/ifam_dd/EN/press/kupfer.jsp

What seems strange is the press release date.

 

[EnglishLion]

Well I can lap my copper heatsink after purchase if I suspect it's not as flat as I'd like. Don't fancy my chances using wet-n-dry on a diamond Heatsink though.

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

Well I can lap my copper heatsink after purchase if I suspect it's not as flat as I'd like. Don't fancy my chances using wet-n-dry on a diamond Heatsink though.

diamond vs sandpaper

diamond wins .... fatality .. or is it fatal1ty?

 

[crazy pyro]

You'll have to use the new diamond paper they'll bring out just for lapping these heatsinks.

 

[soryuuha]

We will see a heatsinks as engagement medium in the future

Man : "Will you marry me?"

Woman : " Yes I do !"

Man : *attach heatsinks at the woman's finger*

 

[D4S4]

diamond DUST is quite cheap - compared to a pure chunk of diamond

 

[nafets]

We'll need these new and interesting alloys to progress further with PC air-cooling heatsink technologies. Current heatpipe-based solutions are reaching a plateau in terms of cooling performance. Hopefully some company runs with this idea and gets the wheels turning in the right direction...

 

[h3llb3nd4]

does it sparkle??

 

[Haytch]

Its about time we started to move into the Diamond age.

I hope they create a factory where pc enthusiests are able to recycle x-wives diamond rings . . . because that will surely help with reducing costs.

 

[SerenadeRB]

I would assume they'd be using synthetic diamond, which I believe is much cheaper than natural rock-diamond. You pay such a premium for rock-diamond because it's flawed x_x.
Synthetic diamond dust however shouldn't raise current Block prices too high imho.