This is from Wizard Cooling's web site, so they could be biased, but they are
saying the advantage of aluminum is in the construction.
https://wizardcooling.com/topic/11-faq.aspx
Why are aluminum radiators better
than copper/brass?
It is true that Copper does dissipate heat better than
aluminum, but the benefits are in the design differences. Because aluminum is
much stronger than copper aluminum core manufactures are able to make the
tubes up to 1.50" wide, opposed to .50" wide for a copper tube. The benefit of
this extra tube width comes from the additional contact that is created
between the fins and the tubes, as there are less spaces or voids between the
tubes (due to a fewer amount of tubes). If you take a look at a cut away
section of copper brass radiator that is 2.25" thick, then multiply the number
of tubes in a row by the width of the tubes you will find that there is a
total of 1.50" of "contact" between the fins and the tubes on every row. Now,
do the same evaluation on a 2.25" aluminum core and you will find that there
is 2.0" of "contact". That is 33% more "contact" than the copper brass. This
is critical as the fins accomplish a large percentage of the heat dissipation.
The less contact between the fin and tubes, the less effective the fins.
Another benefit of the wider, aluminum, tubes is that a larger volume of
coolant is now placed inside the core, were the heat dissipation is occurring.
Between the additional contact between the fins and tubes, the additional
fluid in the core, and the additional contact between the fluid and the tubes
you can expect to see at least a 25% increase in the heat transfer
capabilities of an aluminum radiator over a copper/ brass of the same
thickness.
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