Thermal management technologies have a great prevalence across a number of sectors including automotives, data centers, and spacecrafts, each requiring the implementation of thermal protection materials and structures. IDTechEx's portfolio of Thermal Management Research Reports covers extensive research about the developments of materials and approaches to enhancing performance and preventing thermal runaway.
Aerogels, mica, and solid-state chemistry
Electric vehicle (EV) batteries have continued to pose a fire risk since their initial development, as a result of faults in individual cells, wiring harnesses or environmental factors, which has led to some costly recalls for vehicle manufacturers. Safety standards as a result have been ramped up, meaning there have been large developments in fire protection materials in recent years.
IDTechEx's report, "Fire Protection Materials for EV Batteries 2025-2035" explores numerous avenues for the prevention of thermal runaway propagation, including aerogels, mica, and ceramics, as well as switching up battery chemistries for potentially safer alternatives.
Aerogels have the ability to prevent heat transfer amongst cells and have low thermal conductivity and density. Ceramics and foams show similar advantages and are therefore a good initial choice for preventing propagation across a whole battery. Mica is another option that IDTechEx describes as easier to use, as despite its high density, it is used in thin, low-cost sheets, and has strong electrical properties.
Solid-state electrolyte batteries have presented themselves as a safer option to commonly used liquid electrolyte, with increased thermal stability and the eradication of flammable liquid. Solid-state chemistries also have higher thermal conductivity, leading a larger safe operating temperature range, and have shown less heat from external heating failures. Although they potentially exhibit higher temperatures in an internal short circuit scenario and have challenges making it to wider commercial adoption.
Improving a battery's longevity by more effectively maintaining its operating temperature can be achieved with immersion cooling using dielectric fluid - a cooling method that allows for direct thermal contact between cells and the coolant. Hydrofluoroethers and hydrocarbons are the two biggest categories of materials that can be used for immersion cooling. IDTechEx's report, "Thermal Management for Electric Vehicles 2026-2036: Materials, Markets, and Technologies" finds that hydrocarbons are the more promising choice, with their light weight, low cost, and higher thermal conductivity. However, immersion will remain as a smaller part of the overall market.
Air vs liquid cooling in data centers
Liquid cooling is a major category of thermal management for data centers, with direct-to-chip cooling being the most incumbent in recent years. This approach sees a cold plate installed directly on top of a heat source such as a GPU or CPU and can be split into single-phase or two-phase, which use water-glycol (PG25 typically) or refrigerants, respectively. Immersion cooling is another 'direct' approach, where an entire server board is immersed into a tank of fluid, and also comes with single or two-phase options, where two-phase can provide a much higher cooling capacity.
These approaches may provide a new and improved approach where traditional air cooling, using fans on a server board to provide air flow, may no longer be sufficient for the increasing thermal design power of GPUs and CPUs.
Air cooling such as rear door heat exchangers (RDHx), computer room air conditioning, computer room air handlers, and sidecar heat exchangers are all options for room and facility level cooling. However, computer room air handler units provide a hybrid approach of air and liquid cooling, where they can use cold water from pump rooms, with heat exchange happening between the hot air from the IT room and the cold plate from the pump room. For more information, visit IDTechEx's report, "Thermal Management for Data Centers 2025-2035: Technologies, Markets, and Opportunities".
Rockets and thermal protection for high speeds
The kinetic energy produced by spacecrafts is unmatched, due to their high speeds, meaning thermal management technologies within this sector are of the utmost importance. Decelerating a spacecraft before landing requires a dissipation of excess energy, which can be achieved with either burning retrograde rockets (for niche applications), or aerobraking.
Expandable, ablative, and reusable are the three aerobraking methods which all have their own thermal protection systems. Expandable systems are still developing and use mechanically expanded or gas inflated systems to increase a spacecraft's surface area in order to reduce peak and total heat loads. Ablators, on the other hand, are a proven technology at high temperatures, used in a number of space missions including Gas Giant entry and lunar return.
Reusable thermal protection systems, which may include silica tiles around the spacecraft, are known for their low density and low conductivity while providing thermal insulation. They can also have high emissivity when coated and can reach high maximum temperatures. These factors are all necessary to keep the spacecraft intact, and to ensure heat is not transferred inside or that the body is not too heavy. For the nose and front edges, heavier carbon composite materials would be necessary, as these areas would generate much more heat. IDTechEx's report, "Heat Shields & Thermal Protection Systems for Spacecraft 2025-2035: Technologies and Market Outlook" covers different materials used within spacecraft manufacturing to provide effective and safe thermal protection.
For more information on IDTechEx's thermal management research across a number of sectors, such as EVs, data centers, and spacecrafts, visit their portfolio of Thermal Management Research Reports.
