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Introduction
This is an interview with Scott Gallmeyer of ESGN.com, who recently produced a new thermal compound you'll see on the virtual shelves soon. As a computer geek and cooling nut, I was immediately intrigued, so I contacted Scott about a sample. Well, soon thereafter we found out that he and I were about 10 minutes apart, so I asked if I could interview him about this stuff. He agreed to meet me for lunch to talk about his current Nanotherm products as well as some of his future plans for the cooling industry. While I agreed to not disclose what his future plans are, I can tell you I REALLY hope he gets some of this work done!!!! Here are some of the questions he answered for me.
Thermal compounds haven't really been in the limelight since arctic silver came onto the scene; since it was the best compound we'd ever seen. What gave you the idea of trying to beat them out and make a better compound?
SG: The idea hit me while I was upgrading to a new HSF back in late April. I was trying to clean off the old ASII from my Duron 850 and lay down a fresh application of ASII, before installing my new HSF. It was a real mess trying to clean up the ceramic substrate (as many people already know). I notice minor "leeching" and separation of the silicone oil around the core and the surface layer seemed a bit dry. I thought to myself, "I could make a better compound that this."
Being very involved in the Plastics Industry for many years, I had been doing research for about a year or so on a concept for a highly thermally conductive Nanocomposite thermoplastic material. A week or two after I had the messy experience cleaning up my Duron, reapplying the ASII and installing the new HSF, it struck me that I could apply my Nanocomposite Thermoplastic concept to making a newer, better TIM [Thermal Interface Material]. So, I got to it. Four months and about a dozen test batches later; our Nanotherm thermal compounds are challenging the best performing TIMs on market.
The nanocomposite material you made this out of is really something different for me. What exactly are they, and why do they make such good material for this application?
SG: The "Nano" filler acts like flour in a cake mix. It's binds the rest of the mix together and synergistically enhances the properties of the other components, making it something newer and better than the sum of it's parts - a Nanocomposite material. It also gives Nanotherm that unique, thick, "sticky" characteristic of the compound.
How is the material produced? (You can opt out of this if you really don't want to share any secrets, but some information would be nice.)
SG: It goes through a fairly elaborate, multi-stage mixing process.
Well, that's enough about the background of the material; lets get down to business now. ;) Your product appears to have a few advantages over AS, would you care to tell us about some of them?
SG: Please refer to our "Products" page at www.esgn.com.
Quote from esgn.com's product page:
- Cost-Effective, High Performance Thermal Interface Material
- High Thermal Conductivity
- Low Thermal Resistance
- High Temperature Resistance
- Electrically Insulative
- High Pressure Resistance
- Chemically Inert
- Invisible to Microwave Radiation
- Fills Micropores & Grooves on Contact Surfaces
- Excellent Barrier Properties to Oxygen and Moisture
- Viscous, Sticky Consistency
- Resistant to Separation, Leeching and Drying Out
- Spreads Smoothly & Evenly in Thin Layers
- Fast, Easy Cleanup - No Mess
>> Questions Part 2
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