Thermally conductive filler / modeling material

[Gerald Tompsett]

I'm looking for a modelling material with some elasticity that could give good heat conduction to an irregular shaped item as an interface from the item to a heat sink (cooling) or heat pad (warming)

What can the team suggest?

[Stephen Rodway]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-enjoy-Thermalright-Conductive-Temperature/dp/B08CGL7MLN
or similar, available in a range of thicknesses and designed to bridge
between un-even surfaces and heatsinks.

They're quite squishable so you pick a thickness that will bridge the
largest gap you have, and it will get squashed out of smaller gaps so
everything gets contacted.

Steve

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[Richard Ibbotson]

I am working on a similar project but am limited in what I can share due to a NDA.
As Steve suggest there are silicone based materials available. To set expectations the thermal conductivity of the good ones is around the same as glass or china.
Is it a mouldable solution you want? I have had good results by using around 40% by weight of a high thermal conductivity filler mixed in 2 part silicone rubber. Fillers I have used are zinc oxide, aluminium oxide, and hexagonal boron nitride. These were chosen to also be electrically insulating. Carbon nanotubes might be possible if you wand electric conducting too.
Cheers,
Richard


Sent via Richard's Phone

> On 2 Jul 2021, at 12:08, 'Stephen Rodway' via rLab / Reading's Hackspace <reading-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-enjoy-Thermalright-Conductive-Temperature/dp/B08CGL7MLN

> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to reading-hacksp...@googlegroups.com.
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[Paweł Krawczyk]

On 02/07/2021 12:04, Gerald Tompsett wrote:

> I'm looking for a modelling material with some elasticity that could
> give good heat conduction to an irregular shaped item as an interface
> from the item to a heat sink (cooling) or heat pad (warming)

Thermal paste? They come in various densities and viscosities. Unless it
needs to actually support the structure, in such case there are thermal
conducting epoxies with added metal, ceramic or graphite particles.

https://www.masterbond.com/properties/thermally-conductive-epoxy-adhesives

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[Stephen Rodway]

That one I linked was rated 12.8W/mK (but amazon listing, so take with
pinch of salt), others from more reputable sources vary from 1.5 to
around 10 for cheaper silicone/ceramic ones and as high as 35W/mK for
expensive silicone/graphite composite pads (which are electrically
conductive). Some super-specialized oriented-grain graphite/graphene
composite ones are available with thermal conductivies exceeding that of
solid copper but are £££££ and only available in quite thin (<0.1mm) sheet

Glass is normally considered to have a conductivity around 1W/mK and
porcelain around 1.5W/mK

Steve

[Richard Ibbotson]

The Amazon materials I tested were all less than 1.5W/mK though they are not under much compression in our application.
The thicknesses on the Amazon pieces varies wildly. I ordered 2 pieces at 1mm thick and on was 2mm and the other 3mm before compression. A 2mm piece came as around 4.5mm thick.

Richard


Sent via Richard's Phone

> On 2 Jul 2021, at 12:50, 'Stephen Rodway' via rLab / Reading's Hackspace <reading-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> That one I linked was rated 12.8W/mK (but amazon listing, so take with

> To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/reading-hackspace/60DEFD7C.7080203%40legionelectronics.co.uk.

[Mr.G]

Thanks Steve

Actually I've tried those and found them quite good, I wanted something more like sugru/magicclay that I could mould to the exact shape, ideally reusable  but if cheap enough consumable.

Imagine I the item is a ball bearing, or joined ball bearings or something vaguely conical  and I want to connect that to a heatsink/pad  to cool/warm for a few mins, remove and do something else without it rolling away or having to clamp it.

Kind regards
Mr.G
Gerald

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