Researchers get plastic to act totally metal
Mike Jr
Laboratories reports on a novel processing technique that aligns the
polymer chains of polyethylene, which results in a material that has
both a high thermal capacitance and a high electrical resistance.
The researchers forced the polyethylene to form into this aligned
morphology by slowly drawing the fiber out of solution using the tip
of an atomic force microscope. The new fibrous form of polyethylene
conducts heat well along the direction of the fibers—so well, it beats
out many pure metals, including iron and platinum.The resulting fiber
was about 300 times more thermally conductive than normal
polyethylene."
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/03/researchers-get-plastic-to-act-totally-metal.ars
I can see the low melting point of polyethylene being a problem in a
heat pipe application .... Still, interesting.
--Mike Jr.
Uncle Ben
> "But a paper out of the Pappalardo Micro and Nano Engineering
> Laboratories reports on a novel processing technique that aligns the
> polymer chains of polyethylene, which results in a material that has
> both a high thermal capacitance and a high electrical resistance.
>
> The researchers forced the polyethylene to form into this aligned
> morphology by slowly drawing the fiber out of solution using the tip
> of an atomic force microscope. The new fibrous form of polyethylene
> conducts heat well along the direction of the fibers—so well, it beats
> out many pure metals, including iron and platinum.The resulting fiber
> was about 300 times more thermally conductive than normal
> polyethylene."
>
>
> I can see the low melting point of polyethylene being a problem in a
> heat pipe application .... Still, interesting.
>
> --Mike Jr.
Thank you for this post.
Frank
What's different from the commercial gel spun fiber?
http://www51.honeywell.com/sm/afc/
Wonder if Spectra's even been tested for this.
Uncle Al
Before you believe the hype, run the numbers.
<http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material_properties_of_diamond>
stuff thermal
conductivity, W/(m-K)
=========================================
polyethylene 0.42 - 0.51
polyethylene, 300X 126 - 153
silicon carbide
3C 360
4H 370
6H 490
copper 401
diamond 1.07% C-13 2200
diamond 0.01% C-13 3320
It's a bullshit press release.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz4.htm
J. Clarke
> On 3/12/2010 7:37 AM, Mike Jr wrote:
>> "But a paper out of the Pappalardo Micro and Nano Engineering
>> Laboratories reports on a novel processing technique that aligns the
>> polymer chains of polyethylene, which results in a material that has
>> both a high thermal capacitance and a high electrical resistance.
>>
>> The researchers forced the polyethylene to form into this aligned
>> morphology by slowly drawing the fiber out of solution using the tip
>> of an atomic force microscope. The new fibrous form of polyethylene
>> out many pure metals, including iron and platinum.The resulting fiber
>> was about 300 times more thermally conductive than normal
>> polyethylene."
>>
>> http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/03/researchers-get-plastic-to-act-totally-metal.ars
>>
>>
>> I can see the low melting point of polyethylene being a problem in a
>> heat pipe application .... Still, interesting.
>>
>> --Mike Jr.
>
> What's different from the commercial gel spun fiber?
>
> http://www51.honeywell.com/sm/afc/
Is there anything on that site about unusually high thermal conductivity
in the fiber? If so please either post the direct link or give the
navigation instructions--most of us don't have time to read the entire
contents of a major manufacturing company's web site to find whatever it
is that you are on about.
J. Clarke
What's "bullshit" about it? They didn't claim that it had conductivity
higher than diamond, copper, or silicon carbide. They claimed it was
higher than platinum or iron, which from your link have conductivities
of 80 and 70 respectively.
Mike Jr
> On 3/12/2010 10:53 AM, Uncle Al wrote:
>
>
>
> > Mike Jr wrote:
>
> >> "But a paper out of the Pappalardo Micro and Nano Engineering
> >> Laboratories reports on a novel processing technique that aligns the
> >> polymer chains of polyethylene, which results in a material that has
> >> both a high thermal capacitance and a high electrical resistance.
>
> >> The researchers forced the polyethylene to form into this aligned
> >> morphology by slowly drawing the fiber out of solution using the tip
> >> of an atomic force microscope. The new fibrous form of polyethylene
> >> conducts heat well along the direction of the fibers—so well, it beats
> >> out many pure metals, including iron and platinum.The resulting fiber
> >> was about 300 times more thermally conductive than normal
> >> polyethylene."
>
>
> >> I can see the low melting point of polyethylene being a problem in a
> >> heat pipe application .... Still, interesting.
>
> > Before you believe the hype, run the numbers.
>
> > <http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html>
> > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material_properties_of_diamond>
>
> > stuff thermal
> > conductivity, W/(m-K)
> > =========================================
> > polyethylene 0.42 - 0.51
> > polyethylene, 300X 126 - 153
> > silicon carbide
> > 3C 360
> > 4H 370
> > 6H 490
> > copper 401
> > diamond 1.07% C-13 2200
> > diamond 0.01% C-13 3320
>
> > It's a bullshit press release.
>
> What's "bullshit" about it? They didn't claim that it had conductivity
> higher than diamond, copper, or silicon carbide. They claimed it was
> higher than platinum or iron, which from your link have conductivities
> of 80 and 70 respectively.
And it is certainly lighter than iron and platinum.
--Mike r.