Thermal management is a universal issue affecting electronic products. In that field, temperature spikes present a particular concern because local temperatures within devices can rapidly elevate before heatsinks and fans can transfer the energy away from the device. This results in decreased device efficiency and lifetime, and is extremely problematic in thin electronic products such as smart phones, tablets, and Ultrabooks. A promising approach to mitigate temperature spikes is to use phase change materials (PCMs) which undergo a phase transition at the temperature of concern, absorbing large
amounts of energy in the process. However, PCMs have not been widely implemented because of the difficulties of containing the liquid after melting. New work on order-order phase changes in block copolymers is presented as a  possible alternative to liquid-solid phase transitions commonly used in PCMs for temperature spike mitigation.

Date: 02/15/2016

Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Location: Music City Center - Poster Area

Presenter: Alex N. Bruce