[SOLVED] Liquid metal hardened On AIO and CPU

[Dragon155]

So I’ll start this off by saying, I ran this exact same setup on a delidded 7700k for the better part of 3 years, and have never had this happen. I upgraded to a 9700k about 6-7 months ago, and changed nothing in the systems except the cooler and the CPU. I upgraded to ryzen today because I wasn’t happy with intels CPU’s, and needed the extra cores. I take my AIO (Corsair h110i) off, and to my surprised, there is liquid metal just baked onto the cpu and the water cooler. I noticed temps were a little higher recently, but didn’t think too much of it since I was upgrading soon. This stuff is stuck on there, i have tried isopropyl alcohol, and it has done a grand total of nothing, I have tried a full metal object just on the hardened plate, and it only has taken off a tiny layer. I genuinely have never seen this before and would like to see if anyone has run into this issue before.

thanks in advance!

 

[SkyNetRising]

Can you show any photos?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[Dragon155]

Can you show any photos?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

So I asked a couple of friends as well, and they recommended using sandpaper on a flat surface, I’ve got granite countertops that are very flat, and some 1000 grit/1500 grit sandpaper that is slowly but surely taking it off, as well as lightly lappijg the block, which I have wanted to do anyways. So far this seems to be the best solution.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Lapping is the obvious thing to do.
I just wanted to see some photos of the damage.

For example, if cpu block was made from aluminum, then liquid metal would have completely ruined it.

 

[Phaaze88]

I'd imagine the metals in the LM formed an alloy with the mixed metals in the IHS.
Depending on the mixture from either, one can get slightly different results...
That alloy is one of the reasons to stick with using paste between the IHS and a cooler.

Are you going to use LM between the IHS and cooler again after this?

 

[Unolocogringo]

Liquid metals are for IHS to cpu die and "Tinned", tin plated copper heatsinks and IHS surfaces.IHS is tinned copper.
Placing them on aluminum or bare copper will result in the liquid metal eating or corroding the bare metals.
Some times you learn things the hard way in life, this is one of those times.