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Liquid Metal Cooling Interfaces Form Solid Compound

New data shows liquid metal interfaces on copper degrade over time, highlighting a need for new coating materials.

Updated on Oct. 16, 2026 in Materials Science

Bold flat-color editorial illustration featuring a geometric red crystalline pattern forming on a solid navy plate, representing metallic material degradation.
Researchers identified that liquid metal coolants react with copper surfaces to form solid alloy compounds, significantly reducing thermal conductivity in high-performance computing. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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A two-year electron microscope study reveals that liquid metal thermal interface materials react with copper to form a solid compound that inhibits heat transfer. The findings underscore the long-term reliability issues of liquid metal usage in high-performance computing.

Why it matters

The formation of a solid interface layer, known as CuGa2, reduces thermal conductivity to 100 W/mK compared to 400 W/mK for copper, potentially impacting chip cooling over time. Understanding this chemical reaction is critical for engineers designing long-term thermal solutions for processors.

Liquid metal thermal interfaces degrade by forming a solid CuGa2 layer that grows at 1 micrometer per day, ultimately reaching a maximum thickness of 50 to 100 micrometers. While pure copper allows for 400 W/mK conductivity, the resulting solid compound drops this efficiency to 100 W/mK.

The players

Thermal Grizzly

A developer of specialized thermal interface materials, including liquid metal compounds and graphene-based cooling pads.

The details

The degradation occurs because gallium, a primary component of liquid metal interface materials, chemically bonds with exposed copper to form a solid alloy. Nickel plating acts as a barrier, limiting the thickness of the reaction layer to approximately 10 times thinner than what forms on bare copper. Researchers identified that the resulting nickel-based solid, NiGa5, remains stable at room temperature, which slows the rate of performance loss compared to unprotected copper surfaces.

Timeline

  1. 2018: Skylake-X CPU delidded and used with liquid metal.

  2. 2025: Gallium prices began to rise.

  3. September 30: Thermal Grizzly published a blog post about metal polish.

  4. October 16, 2026: Article publication date.

  5. November 27, 2026: Suspension of China gallium export ban ends.

The Tech Race

Rising costs for gallium, which has surged from 300 Euro to 3,000 Euro per kilogram, are forcing firms like Thermal Grizzly to iterate on cooling coatings. These findings follow market volatility linked to China's dominant 99% share of global gallium supply.

Users relying on liquid metal for CPU cooling should anticipate potential performance degradation over time on bare copper surfaces. Maintenance may involve reapplying thermal materials or using nickel-plated surfaces to mitigate the growth of resistive solid layers.

The takeaway

The chemical instability of liquid metal interfaces on copper requires long-term monitoring by performance enthusiasts. Watch for Thermal Grizzly's planned release of new non-nickel coatings and updated graphene pads coming next year.

Further reading

For more on the performance of next-generation cooling components, explore the Materials Science archives.

Source note: This article includes information reported by Tom's Hardware.

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