Characterization of Thermal Contact Resistance Doped with Thermal Interface Material

This paper describes the thermal contact resistance and its effect on the performance of thermal interface material. An ASTM D 5470 based apparatus is used to measure the thermal interface resistance. Bulk thermal conductivity of different interface material is measured and compared with manufacturers’ data. Also, the effect of grease void in the contact surface is investigated using the same apparatus. The flat type thermal interface tester is proposed and compared with conventional one to consider the effect of lateral heat flow. The results show that bulk thermal conductivity alone is not the basis to select the interface material because high bulk thermal conductivity interface material can have high thermal contact resistance, and that the center voiding affects the thermal interface resistance seriously. On the aspect of heat flow direction, thermal impedance of the lateral heat flow shows higher than that of the longitudinal heat flow by sixteen percent.