Copper or aluminium?

[decephalus]

I'm thinking of making myself a big nice heatsink... Well... the question is Cu or Al? i was thinking that copper, obtained by electrolisis (um.... I think that's the word) would be fine... What do you think?

[kat]

go with copper it is a good deal better at transfering heat

[BP]

Cu's better at conducting heat,but it has more mass so it will hold onto more heat.You just have to have a better fan than you'd need for Al.

[decephalus]

Thanx guys, now I'll have to imagine a way to make that copper heatsink, as all I have is only copper wire... I'm thinking of using a car battery charger as power supply for electrolysis... as soon as I'll make it, i'll give you details 'bout this crazy idea (as my friends said)...

[Rob Cork]

You'd need a hell of a lot of copper for a heatsink - electrolysis would probably take a while, and you'd need a lot of solution or a very concentrated solution. What are you thinking of useing, copper sulphate solution or something? It's definitely a very cool way of doing it - please post with more info, I'm doing chemistry at university, I kinda enjoy this sort of thing (though I don't understand it as well as I probably should :-) )!

[decephalus]

I'm a very patient person, so I'll go for it anyway, no mather how long it takes and how much copper it will be necessary. As for the manufacturing process, I have two variants:
1. Starting from a copper plate and using the electrolysis just to produce the heatsink bars... Not good because I won't find a copper plate with the same purity
2. Starting from a stainless steel thin plate wich to use for making the copper plate (phase 1). Then on second phase, go to pt.1
So, I'll try the second way... for the purity reason and for another one: same reason that I fix my car alone (never went to a car service...) - I like doing things myself; I feel more satisfied.
Back to the problem... yes, copper sulphate, and as I said before a 12V car battery recharger...