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Gallium, indium and tin. People have been making their own liquid metal TIM at home. Playing with the ratio of the metals leads to different results in temperature and ease of application. Pretty cool.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galinstan

Worth noting that it reacts chemically with other metals, including copper. It etches into the heatsink and processor heat spreader, so you might need to sand them down after prolonged use.

Still, it's the most effective thermal interface material so far.




Cheers, hadn't heard of that alloy before.

I bought some gallium to play with after seeing this video of it on a lock - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeghGhVdt9s


Wow, so that's pure gallium. No wonder liquid metal manufacturers recommend you never use it on aluminum!


Yeah, I bought some gallium years ago after seeing videos of its effect on Aluminium. I wanted to get a sense for its 'potential' during dark post 9/11 days of terrorist threats and such, adding another mental concern - "What if someone dribbled some down the side of a plane's window?". After playing with it a bit, i figured it'd be pretty hard to cause harm (you need to scratch the oxide layer for the gallium to affect ally).

Worry gone, it's made for an interesting toy since :)




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