SCIENCE SPIN-OFFS

[DDhawk]

New polymer films conduct heat better than metal:
"the new polyethylene film measured around 60 watts per meter per kelvin. (Diamond, the best heat-conducting material, comes in at around 2,000 watts per meter per kelvin, while ceramic measures about 30, and steel, around 15.) As it turns out, the team's film is two orders of magnitude more thermally conductive than most polymers, and also more conductive than steel and ceramics..............the team's polyethylene film conducts heat only along the length of the fibers that make up the film. Such a unidirectional heat conductor could be useful in carrying heat away in a specified direction, inside devices such as laptops and other electronics. But ideally, he says the film should dissipate heat more effectively in any direction."
https://phys.org/news/2019-04-polymer.html