We have many thermal interface materials to select from, if we design a thermal solution, such as thermal gap pad, two-part thermal gap filler, thermal grease, and so on. But there is always a better one fitting your design. Let’s check them out.

Thermal gap pad, it is used for applications which has a large tolerance.  Thermal gap pad can be assembled easily and it’s reworkable. Both sides of thermal pad are natural tacky, it makes sure that no dispelacement will take place, if you can not assemble perfectly once, you can remove it and re-place it. There is no adverse effects to thermal gap pad.

Thermal silicone grease. Thermal grease is a high performance thermal interface material. Comparing to thermal gap pad, thermal grease has some features, low thermal resistance and contact thermal resistance, ultra thin bondline thickness and screen printable for efficiency application.

Thermal gel. This material has some features in common with thermal silicone grease. For instance, high performance, low thermal resistance 0.0001℃in2/W, ultra thin bondlink thickness 0.09mm. Are thermal gel and thermal silicone grease the same? No. thermal gel provides high performance as excellent as thermal silicone grease, but it does not run like grease, this makes assembling much convenient. More importantly, thermal gel will not pump out and dry up, you don’t need to maintain or replace it with new material in several years. Thermal gel is designed to eliminate time consuming hand assembly, enhancing operation effeciency. Thermal gel requires no curing, providing superior design flexibility.    

In conclusion, thermal gel excelled thermal silicone grease, whether in performance or easy assembly.