Thermally conductive silicone pads and thermally conductive silicone grease are both thermally conductive interface materials and are widely used in electronic products. So which thermally conductive silicone sheet or thermally conductive silicone grease has a better heat dissipation effect? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of them? How to choose thermal silicone gasket and thermal grease?
Thermal effect
As long as a thin layer of thermal conductive silicone grease is applied to the product lightly, the thermal resistance is very low. In addition, the wetting performance of thermal grease can squeeze out air well and improve its own thermal conductivity.
On the contrary, it is more difficult to achieve this low thermal resistance effect with thermally conductive silicone sheets. Generally speaking, the limit of the thickness of the thermally conductive silicone sheet is only 0.1mm, but considering the mechanical properties of such a thin gasket, glass fiber support is often added to the thin product, which will inevitably increase the thermal resistance.
Therefore, from the perspective of product heat dissipation and heat conduction, thermally conductive silicone grease is obviously better than thermally conductive silicone sheets.
Operability
It is difficult to apply the thermal grease itself evenly when applying it, and it will ooze out and contaminate the device.
The thermally conductive silicone sheet itself is relatively uniform, and can be used directly after being cut and torn off at will, and can be reused.
Therefore, thermal silicone gaskets are better than thermal silicone grease in terms of operational convenience.
Service life
Thermally conductive silicone sheet has the advantages of low volatility and anti-aging, and its natural service life will be relatively long, even more than ten years.
Due to the long-term temperature and other influences in the liquid state, thermal conductive silicone grease will dry up and crack, etc., and need to be reapplied. Generally, the service life is about 2 years.
From the perspective of service life, thermal silica gel is more dominant.
Price factor
In terms of price, thermal conductive silicone grease has more advantages than thermal conductive silicone sheets, but due to the complexity of the production and operation of thermal conductive silicone grease, these aspects must become one of the considerations when we choose thermal conductive materials.
Both thermal grease and thermal silicone gasket have their own advantages and disadvantages, and their application fields need to be specific to different products in terms of thermal conductivity, product structure, and product performance. Every product has other fields of application, as long as it is placed in the right place, it is the best product.
