Quote Originally Posted by fart_plume View Post
My concern isn't the blocks but the bearings in the pumps, because these small particles will get in between the impeller shaft and the bearing. If your particles are like bucky balls the bearings would actually last longer. Aleternitively if they are shaped like cubic zirconia crystals they will eat the bearings up in no time flat.
A valid concern. The nanoparticles are on the same order in size with a molecule of water. Your pump should have sealed bearings or it would rust from the water leaking in. I think rust would happen before any detriments due to the nanoparticles if your seal is broken.
With our lab experiments we had a copper plate that was coated with a high temperature paint. We were flowing the nanofluids thru clear PVC piping and high clarity lexan from GE Polymers test section. We had to have high clarity lexan because we were shining a laser onto the copper plate - which had to be painted black with a high temp paint so the laser would reflect. The nanofluid didn't have any effects on the painted copper plate - even after months of tests with Reynolds numbers up to 500,000 in a 2x2 section - that is some serious water velocity, so any sand-blasting effects would have been seen on the paint. Also, the lexan wasn't affected.
But, I will agree, over a million years you might see some wear and tear on a copper block.
I really don't have an answer for the 3M question. I don't think 3M really does any sort of cooling stuff. DowTherm does, but their niche is not electronic cooling. Also, this nanofluid stuff is new technology, maybe they just haven't gotten around to it yet. We were lucky that we had the Air Force to sponsor us.
I appreciate all the questions and comments - it keeps us honest.