Heat sink compound or grease is knowns by a lot of other names: thermal grease, CPU compound, and CPU grease according to its end-products and user experience. People mostly asked whether is heatsink compound the same as thermal paste. Actually, the terms thermal paste and thermal grease are interchangeable. The same goes for thermal compound, thermal goop, thermal muck, heat paste, hot ass gloop-a-doop for your CPU-pa-doop, and other similar terms. Whatever this thermally conductive material is called, it basically is a sticky paste that’s used as an interface between CPU heat sinks and heat sources.
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What is the purpose of a heat sink compound?
Heat sink compound is used to fill gaps between the CPU (central processing unit) or other heat-generating components and the mechanical heat sink. The mechanical heat sink, a passive component made of a conductive metal, is placed over the CPU. Heat is drawn from the CPU through the mechanical heat sink to its fins, where a fan blows air through to dissipate the excess heat.
The main reason why the thermally conductive performance decreases is that air is a relatively bad thermal conductor. If there is any air gap between the heat source and heat sink, it can lead to a reduction in heat dissipation, and result in an overheating and failing device.
How to choose?
In addition to the main criteria – thermal conductivity, there are various other considerations to take into when choosing the right compound for heat-sink.
Chemical Base
For the electronics manufacturer, as the environmental regulations are getting stricter, it is essential to care about the chemical base of thermal compound. Does the application require silicone or non-silicone?
Mechanical ability
In some applications, the bonding strength of the thermal grease is required. In this case, engineers need to care about some index regarding shear or peer test on the heatsink’s substrate or do this inspection themselves to qualify the heatsink compound.
If there are any questions of this heatsink compound, please contact PROSTECH for more information:
