aerogel Could Aerogel replace Thermal paste?

[JustAnotherMatt]

Hi Team LTT 

Recently I watched a video on Aerogel    https://youtu.be/Qa-tTMJ8fkA

It got me thinking, Could this be the answer to replacing thermal paste?
Only one way to find out right?

 

But first a word from your sponsor 

[TetraSky]

12 minutes ago, JustAnotherMatt said:

Hi Team LTT 

Recently I watched a video on Aerogel   https://youtu.be/Qa-tTMJ8fkA

It got me thinking, Could this be the answer to replacing thermal paste?
Only one way to find out right?

 

But first a word from your sponsor 

Isn't aerogel a thermal insulator ? Meaning it doesn't conduct heat too well? Or am I misremembering...

 

Edit : 
Just looked it up.

Aerogel has a thermal conductivity of 0.024 W/mK at 20˚C.

To compare, actual thermal paste are at least 4.0 W/mK (the good ones are over 8.0)

 

Higher is better for cooling, to conduct the heat away from the CPU and to the heatsink.

So yeah, it's an insulator. Not a conductor.

[Needfuldoer]

Aerogel is famous for being an amazing insulator, so it would make some pretty lousy thermal transfer material.  

[saintlouisbagels]

Aerogel is very literally the opposite material you want. I’m curious how you managed to watch the video and still come to your conclusion.

 

The CPU generates heat. The purpose of a conductive thermal paste and heatsink is to pull that heat away.

[Mark Kaine]

17 hours ago, JustAnotherMatt said:

Could this be the answer to replacing thermal paste?

no, the answer to replacing thermal paste is... thermal paste.

 

[starsmine]

16 hours ago, saintlouisbagels said:

Aerogel is very literally the opposite material you want. I’m curious how you managed to watch the video and still come to your conclusion.

Inverting a concept something isnt that hard to do in your head. Im confident you have done that a few dozen times. 

[cmndr]

3 hours ago, starsmine said:

Inverting a concept something isnt that hard to do in your head. Im confident you have done that a few dozen times. 

There's literally a snippet within the first 30 seconds of the video showing aerogel blocking heat from a blow torch. 

 

[starsmine]

18 minutes ago, cmndr said:

There's literally a snippet within the first 30 seconds of the video showing aerogel blocking heat from a blow torch. 

 

I think my point didnt come across

1/x vs x/1, Not vs Not Not. Its not hard to accidently logically invert an idea or a concept in your head. 

You cool a CPU to protect it from extreme heat. oh I know what protects something from extreme heat, a insulator. aerogel is an amazing insulator, why not use that?


aka the concept was inverted, not them being dumb. 

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

1 hour ago, starsmine said:

aka the concept was inverted, not them being dumb. 

... isn't that what, eh, dumb is?

[starsmine]

9 minutes ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

... isn't that what, eh, dumb is?

Dumb would be not understanding the concepts at all and then refusing to try to learn or ask questions. Dumb would be being incapable of inverting an idea, not unintentionally doing it. 

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

1 minute ago, starsmine said:

Dumb would be not understanding the concepts at all and then refusing to try to learn or ask questions. Dumb would be being incapable of inverting an idea, not unintentionally doing it. 

I appreciate you are giving OP the benefit of the doubt, but there is only single post by them. Nothing indicates to me that they got the concept and just flipped it (nor the opposite, tbh). No questions by OP, no reasoning other than that they watched a video on it.

So in absence of any further info, I'd just assume the simplest explanation holds.

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

On 12/20/2024 at 8:29 PM, starsmine said:

Inverting a concept something isnt that hard to do in your head. Im confident you have done that a few dozen times. 

yeah but the idea of "aero"gel is to have the characteristics of "air" in a more usable/ contained form afaik, and air will always be a good insulator ... so you'd need to replace "aero" with LN2 or similar i guess... (it probably won't work with this very idea though)