Minteq International Inc., Pyrogenics Group funded a study of their Pyroid HT® material in electronics cooling heat sinks. Nirav Giri (ME ’13) worked on the initial experimental investigation by measuring heat sink performance with thermochromic liquid crystal thermography. 
The setup is relatively simple in that it uses a standard DSLR and a white LED ring light. The surface is coated with Hallcrest thermochromic liquid crystals. As the heat sink temperature changes, the color changes and is recorded. Using a calibration curve the color, or hue, can be converted into temperature.
Katheryn Yoder (ME ’13) recorded the heat sink temperature of various geometries made from a range of materials. Below is an example of a heat sink temperature profile measured with the thermochromic liquid crystals.
Katheryn Yoder also helped write a finite volume solver to simulate the performance of heat spreaders. Below, the temperature of a heat spreader made from aluminum and Pyroid HT® are compared. The research was featured in a Lafayette article and was published in the IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology.
