Links: SmartPlanet.com Article / MIT Press Release /

Led by Gang Chen, director of MIT's Pappalardo Micro and Nano Engineering Laboratories, researchers have successfully made polyethylene, a common polymer conduct heat as if it were a metal. What makes things different is that unlike metals, the heat is conducted in only one direction and has potential uses such as dissipating heat from computer chips.

Image: Illustration courtesy of Gang Chen

Polymers make good insulators, but MIT researchers have figured out how to make polymers act like a metal.

In other words, Gang Chen, can make plastic really hot.

Chen, director of MIT's Pappalardo Micro and Nano Engineering Laboratories, can make polyethylene, a common polymer conduct heat. Unlike metals that heat up in every direction, the fibers in this polymer line up in an orderly fashion.

Therefore, the polymer only heats up in one direction, making it more efficient than pure metal like iron. Compared to the "normal" plastic, the new material is 300 times more conductive.

The materials created in Chen's lab could have a huge impact in the electronics world. The polymer could replace cell-phone cases, the heat exchanger fins in household appliances, computer processor chips, and solar hot water collectors.

(Source: SmartPlanet.com, MIT)