MIT gives polyethylene metal-like properties

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said they have developed a process to turn the most common polymer, polyethylene, into a metal-like heat conductor that is still an electrical insulator. The process does endow the polymer to conduct heat in only one direction, however, unlike metals which conduct equally well in all directions. This characteristic may make the materials ideal for use in drawing heat away from objects that include computer chips.

The MIT team accomplished this feat by getting the polymer's molecules to line up in the same direction, instead of having them randomly arranged. This arrangement was done by slowly drawing a polyethylene fiber from a solution using the cantilever of an atomic force microscope. The product was 300 times more thermally conductive than run-of-the-mill polyethylene along the realigned molecules.

The researchers hope to mass-produce their prototypes, though how viable this is on a mass-scaled remains to be seen.

By Electronista Staff