Thermal silicone gaskets and thermal grease are both thermal interface materials and are widely used in electronic products. So which one has better heat dissipation effect? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of them? How to choose thermally conductive silicone gasket and thermally conductive silicone grease?
Thermal conductivity
Thermal conductive silicone grease only needs to be lightly coated with a thin layer of thermal conductive silicone grease on the product, so the thermal resistance is very low. In addition, the wetting performance of thermally conductive silicone grease can squeeze out air well and improve its own thermal conductivity.
On the contrary, it is more difficult for thermally conductive silicone sheets to achieve this low thermal resistance effect. Generally speaking, the limit of thermally conductive silicone sheets can only be 0.1mm thick. However, considering the mechanical properties of such a thin gasket, glass fiber supports are often added to thin products, which will inevitably increase the thermal resistance. Therefore, from the perspective of product heat dissipation and thermal conductivity, thermally conductive silicone grease is obviously better than thermally conductive silicone sheet.
Use operability
Thermal silicone grease itself is difficult to apply evenly when applied, and may seep out and contaminate the device.
The thermally conductive silicone sheet itself is relatively uniform. You can cut and tear the film at will and use it directly, and it can be used repeatedly. Therefore, thermally conductive silicone gaskets are better than thermally conductive silicone grease in terms of operational convenience.
Service life
Thermal conductive silicone sheets have the advantages of low volatility and anti-aging, and their natural service life will be relatively long, even more than ten years.
Thermal conductive silicone grease will dry out and crack due to long-term temperature and other influences in its liquid form, and needs to be reapplied. It generally has a service life of about 2 years. From the perspective of service life, thermally conductive silicone sheets have more advantages.
Price factor
In terms of price, thermal silicone grease has more advantages than thermal silicone sheets. However, due to the complexity of the production operation of thermal silicone grease, these aspects must become one of the considerations when we choose thermal conductive materials.
Both thermally conductive silicone grease and thermally conductive silicone gasket have their own advantages. Their application fields require different products in terms of thermal conductivity performance, product structure, and product performance. Every product has other application areas. As long as it is placed in the right position, it will be the best product.
