How to Choose Thermally Conductive Gel and Thermal Silicone Gasket?

Thermal silicone gasket: a thermally conductive interface material with high softness, high compliance and high compression ratio. It is mainly used to fill the gap between heating components and heat sinks or metal bases, complete the heat transfer between the two, and play the role of shock absorption, insulation and sealing at the same time.

Thermally conductive gel: a gel with silicone resin as the base, adding thermally conductive fillers and bonding materials in a certain proportion, and processed through a special process. It is molded with the shape of the structure, has good fluidity, has excellent structural applicability and surface attachment characteristics of structural parts, and fully fills the gaps. It has good insulation withstand voltage characteristics and temperature stability, safe and reliable.

Many people think that some machining is very flat and smooth, such as the surface of the CPU. But in fact, there is a gap between the CPU and the radiator. Once there is a gap, there will be air, and the thermal resistance generated by the air will be very high. In order for components such as radiators to perform their functions, it is necessary to have a heat-conducting material to act as a medium. The small thermal conductive material can fill the gaps between electronic components and increase the maximum effective contact area between the heat source and the heat sink. In the past few years, thermally silicone gaskets are one of the main thermally conductive materials used to solve a large number of heat conduction problems. However, with the advancement of technology, heat-conducting circuit boards are getting smaller and smaller, and there are more and more electronic components. The heat source of the circuit board is too concentrated, and the power of electronic products is getting bigger and bigger, so the requirements for thermal interface materials are getting higher and higher. Too many heat dissipation problems can no longer be satisfied by thermal silicone gaskets. In scenarios that require very low stress, the lower the hardness of the silicone sheet, the better, but when the hardness is very low, the silicone sheet will have mucous membranes, deformation, etc., making the operation more difficult. The thermal conductive gel can be used 100%, no need to discharge waste, more optimized usage, no need for die-cutting, no cost of die-cutting, no need to worry about the delivery time and production capacity of die-cutting, and even fully automated production, reducing management costs . Thermally conductive gel can quickly program the ability of different dispensing paths to achieve fast, precise and ruthless. Cons: Not reusable and caulks gaps in general.

So there is no single standard answer to whether thermal gel is better or thermal silicone gasket is better. Customers can choose suitable thermal conductive materials according to their actual application conditions. For example: when the interface gap is small, you can choose thermal silicone grease, thermal paste, two-component thermal adhesive, and ultra-thin thermal pad. The shorter the heat transfer distance, the higher the heat transfer efficiency. In fact, there are many considerations, such as application environment, device tolerance, etc.