Metal Gel Material: A Novel Liquid Metal Paste for Thermal Management Applications

Metal Gel (MG) is a new class of material that exhibits high thermal conductivity and unique mechanical properties which present advantages over liquid metal and paste thermal interface materials (TIM). Recent testing compared the thermal conductivity of MG with conventional forms of TIM and studied other characteristics of this novel material including contact area between heat source and sink, bond line thickness, processability, and ease of application. This paper will share the results from that testing which showed MG to exhibit higher bulk thermal conductivity than thermal pads, silicone oils, and thermal pastes, as well as high conformability and compressibility, which enable superior contact area between surfaces compared with liquid metals.