Thermal Pads VS thermal grease: How to choose the same thermal conductivity?

As a commonly used thermal interface material for electronic products, thermal conductive silicone grease and thermal conductive thermal Pads can be used for heat dissipation components to improve the running speed, reliability, stability and service life of electronic equipment, which is an indispensable part of electronic products.

At this time, it should be considered from the aspects of material characteristics, application objects, and use methods:

1、Material property

The two components are different, the material characteristics are different, in the face of some special application needs (such as siloxane volatilization, shock absorption, insulation, etc.), often choose different thermal conductivity materials.

Thermal grease

Low oil separation (tends to 0), long-term, good reliability, strong weather resistance (high and low temperature resistance, water vapor resistance, ozone resistance, aging resistance, etc.), good contact surface wetting effect, effectively reduce interface thermal resistance and other characteristics.

Thermal Pads

Double-sided self-adhesive, high electrical insulation, with good temperature resistance, high softness, high compliance, low compression force application, with high compression ratio and other characteristics.

2、Application object

These two thermal conductivity materials can be widely used in various industries, such as:

Power supply, mobile phones, LED, automotive electronics, communications, computers, home appliances and other industries, so for different electronic components, should be selected according to their characteristics of the corresponding thermal interface materials.

                                                                                                                                                          
Thermal grease
Thermal interface material with high thermal conductivity in paste form, which can effectively reduce the contact thermal resistance between heat source and heat sink.Mainly used in CPU, transistor, thyristor, IGBT module, LED lamp and other heating components.

Thermal Pads
A thermal interface material with a certain thickness, compressibility, resilience, double-sided self-adhesive and high compliance.Mainly used in IC, transformer, inductor, capacitor, PCB board and other heating components.

3、Mode of use

For different application pairs, the use of thermal conductivity materials will be different.

Thermal grease

Clean the surface of the components and radiator first, and then stir the thermal grease evenly.
Silicone grease can then be applied to the surface of the heat sink (or the metal substrate of the component) by dot coating, brush coating or screen printing.
If screen printing is used, it is recommended to use 60-80 mesh nylon wire mesh, choose a rubber scraper with a hardness of about 70, and scrape silicone grease at about 45 degrees with the coated surface during coating.

After the end of the operation, the unused products should be sealed and stored in time.

Thermal Pads

To keep the surface of the component clean, remove one of the protective films first.
Attach the thermal silicone sheet to the surface of the component, and then tear off the other protective film, and press the radiator (or shell) on the thermal silicone sheet to tighten.
In general, thermal conductive thermal Pads and thermal conductive silicone grease have their own advantages.
When choosing, it is necessary to take into account the application object, easy operation, material characteristics and other factors in order to make the best choice.