My last post provided a high-level discussion regarding the potential for reusable grocery bags to harbor multiple types of bacteria and other germs.  The next step was to look into the scientific literature and see if there were any peer reviewed studies.  It turns out there were two widely cited peer reviewed scientific studies. The first was by Dr. Richard Summerbell from ... [Click to Continue...]

I trust all are staying safe and making the best of the current COVID-19 situation.  I am based in California and am on mandatory stay-at-home orders.  I saw an interesting article come into my inbox this week from the Wall Street Journal.  That be said, it was an editorial, but it got me thinking.  The premise of the article is that the ban on plastic bags may have backfired.  ... [Click to Continue...]

The last post showed how fillers play an important role in the development of thermal conductivity.  The filler volume percent is a key parameter as shown in the figure on the left.  To complete the discussion, two other characteristics need to be presented.  The first is the concept of the percolation threshold and the second in the particle morphology.  We touched on ... [Click to Continue...]

The two previous posts in this series provided an introduction to thermal interface materials (TIM) and a description of why TIM’s are used to facilitate heat transfer across tow surfaces.  This post will cover two types of thermal interface materials: Thermally conductive and electrically conductive Thermally conductive and electrically insulating There are many ... [Click to Continue...]

This post will discuss the rationale for using thermal interface materials.  The question is: why would someone go to through the effort to put a thermal interface material (TIM) between two surfaces?  To answer the question, let’s take a closer look at the interface between two surfaces.  Figure 1 shows a schematic of two typical surfaces when placed in close ... [Click to Continue...]