A new plastic material could significantly reduce problems associated with overheating mobile phones, say researchers from Loughborough University in England.
Known as ultra-high molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), the new plastic, unlike the ones currently used in mobile phone covers, dissipates the heat created by the lithium batteries and reduces the likelihood of injury to the owners.
“Current plastic cases do not dissipate heat and have been known to get too hot, with phones doing strange things,” lead researcher Sara Ronca, Ph.D, said. “For example, when you heat up plastic too much it will deform. If the plastic dissipates heat, this will happen less.”
Designers continue to look for more effective ways to remove heat from cell phones as phone manufacturers pack increasingly powerful components into small packages in an effort to boost computing power. Heat sinks and thermal interface materials are already employed readily in the phone manufacturing industry, and last year NEC introduced the world’s first water-cooled smartphone, the Medias X N-06E. The new plastic could further supplement the abilities of these cooling technologies.
While UHMWPE is not normally good at conducting heat, Ronca and her colleagues have come up with a way to synthesize and process the material that improves its conductivity.
“We know that it works, we know it is thermally conductive, because we already have the data. What we have to do now is find out how we can tailor the material for any industrial application,” Ronca said.
In addition to cell phones, the plastic could be used as a heat sink in computers to replace metals, which are expensive, heavy and electrically conductive, and composite materials, which are harder to recycle because of the fillers they contain. Manufacturers of electric motors and generators, solar panels, batteries and heat exchangers in power generation could also benefit from using the new plastic.
