Introduction to the types, uses and application areas of thermal conductive silicone pads

What are thermal interface materials?

IC packaging and electronic heat dissipation frequently employ thermal interface materials. They are primarily employed to fill micro-gaps and surface irregularities that are generated when two materials are joined or in contact, thereby enhancing heat dissipation performance and reducing thermal resistance.

Thermal Interface Materials' Operational Principle

What are the benefits of utilising thermal interface materials?

1. The surface of microelectronic materials and the heat sink are separated by extremely fine, uneven gaps. The actual contact area is only 10% of the heat sink base area when they are directly mounted together, with the remaining area consisting of air gaps. The contact thermal resistance between the electronic component and the heat sink is extremely high, which significantly impedes heat conduction and ultimately leads to low heat sink efficiency, as air has a thermal conductivity of only 0.025 W/(mK) and is a poor conductor of heat.

2. The utilisation of a thermal interface material with high thermal conductivity to fill these gaps and eliminate the air creates an effective heat transfer channel between the electronic component and the heat sink, thereby significantly reducing contact thermal resistance and enabling the heat sink to operate at its optimal capacity.

A Variety of Common Thermal Interface Materials

○ Thermally Conductive Grease ○ Thermally Conductive Phase Change Materials

○ Thermally Conductive Double-Sided Adhesive ○ Thermally Conductive Graphite Sheets

○ Thermally Conductive Silicone Sheets

Today we will focus on what thermally conductive silicone sheets are.

What are their applications in which industries?

What can they be used for?

Please read on!!

01

Thermally Conductive Silicone Sheets

(1) Thermally conductive silicone sheets are a type of thermally conductive medium material synthesized through a special process using silicone as the base material and adding various auxiliary materials such as metal oxides.

(2) In the industry, they are also called thermally conductive silicone pads, thermally conductive silicone sheets, soft thermally conductive pads, thermally conductive silicone gaskets, etc. They are specially produced for design schemes that utilize gaps to transfer heat, filling gaps and completing heat transfer between heat-generating and heat-dissipating parts.

(3) They also play a role in insulation, shock absorption, and sealing, meeting the design requirements of miniaturization and ultra-thinning of equipment. They are highly processable and usable, with a wide range of applicable thicknesses, making them an excellent thermally conductive filling material. 02

Types, Uses, and Applications of Thermal Conductive Silicone Sheets

1. Types of Thermal Conductive Silicone Sheets

Ordinary thermal conductive silicone sheets, strong-adhesion thermal conductive silicone sheets, silicone-backed thermal conductive silicone sheets, and silicone sheets with fiberglass cores, etc.

2. Uses of Thermal Conductive Silicone Sheets

Mainly used in control boards of electronic and electrical products, internal and external foot pads and mats for motors, and in electronic and electrical appliances, automotive machinery, computer mainframes, laptops, DVDs, VCDs, and any materials requiring filling and heat dissipation modules.

3. Application Areas of Thermally Conductive Silicone Sheets

(1) Laptops, computer mainframes;

(2) Power devices (power supplies, computers, telecommunications), automotive electronic modules (engine wipers), power modules, high-power power supplies, calculator applications (CPU, GPU, hard drives), and any place requiring heat dissipation;

(3) Used in electronic products, for close contact between heat-generating power devices (integrated circuits, power transistors, transformers, etc.) and heat dissipation facilities (heat sinks, aluminum casings, etc.) to achieve better heat conduction;

(4) High-power LED lighting, high-power LED spotlights, streetlights, fluorescent lamps, etc.

03

Features of Thermally Conductive Silicone Sheets

The thermal conductivity of thermally conductive silicone sheets is adjustable, and the thermal stability is better.

The process tolerances of thermally conductive silicone sheets are minimized, reducing the process tolerance requirements of heat sinks and heat dissipation structural components.

The thermally conductive silicone sheets have insulating properties.

The thermally conductive silicone sheets have vibration damping and sound absorption effects.

Thermally conductive silicone pads are easy to install, test, and reuse.

The material is relatively soft, with good compressibility, excellent thermal conductivity and insulation, and a wide adjustable thickness range. They are suitable for filling cavities, have natural adhesion on both sides, and are highly operable and maintainable.