Thermal Paste Conductivity

A tube of 8 5w mk carbon based compound which is.

Thermal paste conductivity. Thermal paste also called thermal compound thermal grease thermal interface material tim thermal gel heat paste heat sink compound heat sink paste or cpu grease is a thermally conductive but usually electrically insulating chemical compound which is commonly used as an interface between heat sinks and heat sources such as high power semiconductor devices. Each thermal paste comes with its own thermal conductivity rating for how efficient it is at transferring heat from the processor to the heatsink. When the thermal conductivity of a paste is more than the temperature of the components then it s reduced even more. When it comes to thermal paste arctic mx 4 is probably the most popular compound on the market today due to its impressive thermal performance and great value.

With a thermal conductivity of 79 w mk this is one of the best thermal pastes in terms of heat conductivity. Liquid and non metallic compounds have different conductivity levels. The paste is grease based and includes carbon micro particles which produce high thermal conductivity 8 5 w mk. More the thermal conductivity the temperature will be reduced more.

The filler is a compound or material with a high thermal conductivity that helps in the majority of heat transfer. A thermal paste is made up of filler material suspended in a polymerizable liquid matrix or suspension fluid. Every thermal paste has a thermal conductivity rating which defines its capacity to transfer heat from the processors to the heat sink. For example the thermal conductivity of a high grade thermal paste is 8 5 w mk and the heat conductivity of copper is 385 w mk or for aluminum 205 w mk.

Higher the thermal conductivity of a thermal paste the better is its performance. Price is normally set based upon thermal conductivity and the amount of compound in the tube generally in the range of 3g which is a few uses. You can see that the thermal compound is actually a poor heat conductor and that is exactly the reason why you only need a very thin layer of paste to fill the micro imperfections between.