E-Moto Tuner
10 W
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2022
- Messages
- 66
Controller Heatsink Paste/Compound
- Thread starter E-Moto Tuner
- Start date
Theres' not much difference between the many different pastes, thermally. Most of these things just use the plain old titanium dioxide stuff with some form of silicone oil as a carrier. The differences are mainly in the carriers used, and how long it will take the carrier to evaporate or migrate somewhere else in the device, leaving the paste itself dry and crumbly.
(If you want details, there are a lot of webpages out there that review thermal pastes, pads, etc., mostly for CPU / gaming sites and such, but they are just as relevant for our purposes...there are also articles on cleanly and minimally applying thermal paste for best thermal conduction without creating thermal insulation problems).
As long as you apply it correctly so that it only fills the tiny scratches and surface imperfections that are otherwise filled with air, any of them work about the same upon original installation. (assuming the surfaces are actually correctly machined so they mate flat to each other; if not you can lap them first if you have the time for the process). This way the most possible surface area of metal contacts metal, directly, which gives the most efficient thermal conduction.
If there are large gaps between the surfaces, you might want to get thermal pads (like sil-pads) instead, as those aren't going to dry out and leave air gaps behind...but they will keep the metal surfaces from touching each other directly at all, which is less thermally efficient. It's still usually better than the air gaps would be, though.
(If you want details, there are a lot of webpages out there that review thermal pastes, pads, etc., mostly for CPU / gaming sites and such, but they are just as relevant for our purposes...there are also articles on cleanly and minimally applying thermal paste for best thermal conduction without creating thermal insulation problems).
As long as you apply it correctly so that it only fills the tiny scratches and surface imperfections that are otherwise filled with air, any of them work about the same upon original installation. (assuming the surfaces are actually correctly machined so they mate flat to each other; if not you can lap them first if you have the time for the process). This way the most possible surface area of metal contacts metal, directly, which gives the most efficient thermal conduction.
If there are large gaps between the surfaces, you might want to get thermal pads (like sil-pads) instead, as those aren't going to dry out and leave air gaps behind...but they will keep the metal surfaces from touching each other directly at all, which is less thermally efficient. It's still usually better than the air gaps would be, though.
