Preventing Galvanic Corrosion in Water Cooling Loops
1 min read
Summary
A recent video by YouTuber der8aer demonstrates the issue of corrosion in water cooling loops, using a GPU cold plate as an example.
While water is an excellent coolant due to its high heat capacity, it is also an excellent solvent, making it a prime candidate for galvanic corrosion.
This is when one metal in the loop acts as an anode, and others as a cathode, with the water stripping metal ions from the anode and depositing them on the cathode.
The nickel-plated cold plate was immune to this corrosion, however, upon exposure to distilled water at 60°C, strong galvanic corrosion was induced.
This was due to the imperfect plating allowing copper ions to dissolve into the water and be deposited on the nickel.
Meanwhile, a sample with a coolant containing a corrosion inhibitor (DP Ultra) prevented corrosion, highlighting the need for such inhibitors in water cooling loops.
