Choosing the Right Manufacturing Solution for Aluminum Heatsinks

Aluminum radiators are a common choice for most street and track performance applications. Performance-conscious customers choose to replace their radiators for a number of reasons: they want less weight, they are upgrading their cooling system to improve efficiency, or they want to improve the look of the underground.

Heat sink material

While copper and brass construction is often favored for an old-fashioned or period-correct look, most aftermarket performance heat sinks feature aluminum construction. Copper is an efficient heat conductor, but the walls must be thin to achieve ideal heat dissipation. If the tubing has thin walls, you need to keep the tubing diameter fairly small (.500 inches). (approximately) Prevents tube bundles under pressure. Aluminum is a stronger material; therefore, the pipe diameter can be larger (up to 1.5 inches). In some cases) and wall thicknesses can be larger while producing a lighter weight heat sink (aluminum is about 60% lighter than copper/brass). The larger pipe diameter also provides more coolant volume, which means more coolant is exposed to the heat exchange process, and the stronger aluminum material can withstand more heat and pressure. To help illustrate heat dissipation capability, a dual row aluminum radiator has 1 inch. tubes that will dissipate heat, roughly equivalent to a five row copper radiator featuring .500 inch. tubes.

What are the pros and cons of the material? Copper needs to be soldered, while lead tends to insulate and dissipate heat, and aluminum is soldered. However, copper heat sinks are easier to repair than aluminum heat sinks.

Is weight really that important to the streets? no. The weight-saving aluminum radiator (by comparison) is a by-product that offers a little bragging rights. In reality, however, lighter weight is only an issue in competing cars where every ounce counts.

There are many options for radiator designs, but usually only aluminum, steel, stainless steel and cast iron materials are available.

Aluminum heat sinks are more efficient than both steel varieties and cast iron heat sinks because aluminum is a superconductor for heat.

The main advantage of an aluminum radiator as a good conductor of heat is how quickly it heats up and cools down to the room's pre-set temperature.

Farrar aluminium radiators are probably the most efficient heat emitters in the UK. If you come home and your heat isn't on, they will heat your room very quickly.

Aluminum radiators also have low water content and are very responsive to thermostat changes, saving a lot of money by reducing costs, but also benefiting from the fact that aluminum radiators are light and easy to dispose of. One engineer installs, thereby reducing installation costs.

Cast iron was the first material used in the mass manufacture of radiators in the Victorian era.

Cast iron takes a long time to heat, but it also takes a long time to cool, so it will keep you and your room warmer after you turn off the central heating.

AEL Victoria cast iron radiators also offer a nostalgic look and feel that other radiators cannot.

Steel is the most commonly used material for making radiators today, and there are currently non-inspiring, inexpensive traditional whiteboard radiators available.

Stainless steel radiators are a premium material with advantages.

First of all, stainless steel radiators will not rust if they are of the proper stainless grade.

Another advantage of stainless steel heatsinks is that they are a reasonably efficient conductor of heat, plus stainless steel heatsinks hold longer than aluminum heatsinks.

This means they will keep your home warmer after you turn off the central heating.

The disadvantage of stainless steel radiators is that they are very expensive and must be maintained twice a year with warm water and detergent.

In short, aluminum radiators may be a better choice for high-performance engines and custom rods (where the radiator may be more exposed), while copper/brass radiators will still be a better choice for repair or cycle-correct applications. Copper and aluminum have their place, depending on the application.

extrusion

The extrusion process is suitable for mass production of aluminum radiators, with less investment, short development cycle and low production cost. A commonly used aluminum extrusion material is aluminum 6063, which has good thermal conductivity. Its working principle is to heat the aluminum ingot to 520-540℃ under high pressure, so that the aluminum liquid flows through the extrusion die with grooves to make the heat sink. Then cut the heat sink blank, profile grooves and other processing processes, which are the heat sinks we usually see.

Aluminum extrusion process to make fins. The ratio of the thickness and length of the fins is limited within a certain range, the ratio of pin-fin type. It is one of the main criteria for testing aluminium extrusion technology. The larger the PIN-FIN ratio, the larger the effective cooling area of ​​the heat sink. It is difficult to improve the heat dissipation area in a limited space, so the heat dissipation effect of the aluminum extrusion heat sink is not very ideal. In heat sink processing, the aluminum extrusion process is mainly used to make layered fins or cylindrical fins.

Die casting

The principle of die-cast aluminum heat sink is similar to injection molding. The aluminum alloy raw material is dissolved in the liquid under high pressure, and then the liquid material is quickly filled into the metal mold. According to the model, the die-casting machine starts working, one-time die-casting, and after cooling and subsequent processing, a single radiator is made. The process can be integrated into thin, dense or complex heat sink designs. The disadvantage of this process is that it affects the thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of the material, which are not the case for nuclear thermal conductivity.

Anodizing

Anodizing is one of the most widely used surface treatments for aluminum heat sinks today. Through anodizing, the surface of the part will have a protective film, which not only can resist scratches, wear and loss, protect the parts, but also overcome the defects of the surface hardness of the aluminum alloy.

Plating

Plating can effectively protect and decorate aluminum radiators. The principle is similar to anodizing. It is also a protective film on the surface of the part to prevent anodizing on the surface of the part. At the same time, it also improves the wear resistance, reflectivity, electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance of the parts.