Corrosion

[PhoenixKnights]

Hey Just came up with an interesting puzzle. I have a waterblock with is mostly copper as alot of heatsinks are now. And Because of this some corrosion can happen. Now because we don't like things to interfer with our heat transfer from the processor to the heatsink I wondered what should I use to clean off the corrosion or is it even nessassary?

If we are going to remove corrosion with a cleaner of some sort we don't want something that leaves a residue of course. So nothing oil based, does anyone have any ideas?

 

[LtBlue14]

are you talking about corrosion inside of the waterblock, or on the bottom touching the cpu? if you mean inside, then you should be using an anti-corrosive (like anti-freeze) in your loop. if you mean on the outside of the block, 2 things: 1st, i have read that oxidation of copper fins doesn't affect heat transfer abilities very much with respect to air cooling. for watercooling, this isn't an issue, since no air touches the heat transfer surface. now, if you mean the BOTTOM of the heatsink/waterblock...well..no oxygen is gonna touch where the core is touching, so oxidation isn't a problem.

basically, don't worry about it, unless you want your heatsink/wb to be nice and shiny, in which case you're gonna have to polish it fairly often, or find something to spray on the copper to keep oxidation from happening (do they have something like this? i don't even know, but it wouldn't surprise me)

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[ImpPatience]

I've heard of people painting a clear coat varnish on metals to keep them shiny. That would work for a water block.

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[LtBlue14]

and by "cover the CPU contact area" he means cover it to protect it, not cover it with spray =)

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[PhoenixKnights]

well it has some oxidation on the bottom of the heatsink already, and I want the best thermal interface with the processor as possible, so I was wondering should I worry about the oxidation? and is there a way to remove it without leaving a residue if so? Of course the goal here is to get the best thermal interface as possible and I'll be using AS5 on my waterblock, and it's only the outside where the oxidation is.

 

[LtBlue14]

search google

2 things that people say work:
boiling the copper in a combo of vinegar salt and water (this might work if you just put vinegar and salt into a cup and dipped a cloth into it, and rubbed the bottom of the wb)
or half a lemon dipped in salt and rubbed on copper

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[PhoenixKnights]

so you don't think that vinegar will leave a residue?

 

[PhoenixKnights]

because vinegar at least used to be made out of wine, which means sugars and stuff but I could be wrong. Also why does it matter if it's a mirrored finish on a hs anyway?

 

[LtBlue14]

rubbing it down with alcohol afterwards will probably eliminate any residue. that's what i'd do

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[chadwickvm]

Now, don't hold me to this, but I visited PCM+ the other day and I think they are creating an answer to your problem as we speak. I read something about how the old PCM+ would cause corrosion on heat sinks so they added a new, anti-corrosive agent to their interface material AND are making an anti-corrosive cleaner. I'm pretty sure that would take care of your problem but I don't think its been released yet so I don't know.