How much is the thermal conductivity of thermal conductive silicone grease? Is it necessary to buy silicone grease with high thermal conductivity?

What is thermal grease
Thermally conductive silicone grease is commonly known as heat dissipation paste. Thermally conductive silicone grease uses organic silicone as the main raw material and adds materials with excellent heat resistance and thermal conductivity to make a thermally conductive silicone grease compound. It is used in power amplifiers, transistors, electronic tubes, and CPUs. Heat conduction and heat dissipation of electronic components, so as to ensure the stability of electrical performance of electronic instruments and meters. At the same time, the thermal conductive silicone grease has good stability and high and low temperature resistance, so the silicone grease can maintain the paste state without curing under the general environment.

What is thermal conductivity？
Knowing what is thermally conductive silicone grease, let’s take a look at what is thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity refers to a material with a thickness of 1m under the condition of stable heat conduction. The temperature difference between the two sides of the surface is 1 degree (K or ℃). Time, the heat transferred through an area of 1m2, the unit is W/m·degree (W/m·k).

Thermal conductivity is an important indicator of thermal grease

Thermal conductivity is one of the important indicators in the application process of thermal conductive silicone grease. Generally, users lack the instruments to directly test the thermal conductivity. They all test the whole machine to verify the heat dissipation effect, but this is a short-term effect. For example, the required thermal conductivity is 1.0w/m.k. While the manufacturer provides 0.8w/m.k, there may be no obvious difference from the user's whole machine test, but after a long time after the actual application, the heat conduction effect may not keep up, leading to premature failure of the product; choose an accurate thermal conductivity, do not take it lightly Believe in the theoretical value, but want the real test value, when you choose the thermal conductivity, you should know more about the parameters related to the thermal conductivity, such as the test area, heat flow, test thermal resistance, test pressure, average temperature, etc., if Being able to explain all these parameters clearly shows that the thermal conductive silicone grease has a thermal conductivity obtained through rigorous testing, so as to prevent getting a thermal conductive silicone grease that is lower than the actual demand.

What is the appropriate thermal conductivity？
In practical applications, there is a gap in thermal conductivity between silicone grease with high thermal conductivity and silicone grease with low thermal conductivity, and the gap is still very large. According to the test data, the largest difference between them is 15°C, and the smallest difference is also 11°C. ℃; for silicone grease with high thermal conductivity, the higher the thermal conductivity, the better the thermal conductivity, and the maximum difference in temperature is 4 ℃. So for ordinary users, the thermal conductivity of thermal silicone grease is appropriate. Is it necessary to buy silicone grease with high thermal conductivity? The editor believes that if you only use a computer for office work and watching dramas, then ordinary silicone grease is no problem. The thermal conductivity of 3w is enough, and the silicone grease that comes with the general radiator is also fine. For players with overclocking needs or high-end platforms, it is very necessary to choose silicone grease with high thermal conductivity, and the higher the better (without considering the price), it is recommended to be above 10W.