Thermal grease is a paste-like thermal interface material produced by grinding and compounding a base oil of speciality silicone oil with inorganic fillers that offer high thermal conductivity and high-temperature resistance. Its fundamental design principle is not to act as the primary heat conductor itself, but rather to utilise its soft, paste-like consistency to to fully fill the microscopic depressions and gaps—invisible to the naked eye—between the heat-generating component and the heat sink under assembly pressure. This displaces the air—which has a thermal conductivity of only approximately 0.026 W/(m·K)—thereby establishing a highly efficient heat transfer pathway based on the material’s own thermal conductivity, and consequently significantly reducing the interfacial thermal resistance.
The key characteristic of thermal grease is that it fills the microscopic voids between solid interfaces and displaces air—which has low thermal conductivity—thereby significantly reducing the contact thermal resistance. Essentially, it is an insulating interface material with a high thermal conductivity, good thixotropy and long-term reliability. It does not rely on its own high thermal conductivity to replace the connection between the heat source and the heat sink; rather, it utilises its paste-like form to wet the interface without exerting excessive pressure, thereby forming a highly efficient thermal conduction pathway at the thinnest possible thickness.
✅ Computer and Server Hardware: The filling of the interface between the CPU/GPU and the heat sink is the most widely recognised application.
✅ High-Power Power Supplies and Power Electronics: Heat transfer between high-heat-generating semiconductors, such as IGBT modules and MOSFETs, and heat sinks in variable-frequency drives, inverters and UPS systems.
✅ LED Lighting and Displays: The thermal coupling between the aluminium substrate of the LED chip and the luminaire’s heat sink housing determines light decay and service life.
✅ Automotive Electronics: Thermal management for the main chips and power modules of the on-board charger (OBC), DC-DC converter and domain controller.
✅ Consumer Electronics: Heat transfer between the main processing chips in devices such as smartphones, tablets and routers, and the shielding covers, copper heat pipes or mid-frames.
✅ Domestic appliances: The connection between heat-generating components—such as power transistors in induction hobs and inverter modules in air conditioners—and heat sinks.
✅ Communications Base Stations and Optical Modules: Heat dissipation from laser components in base station power amplifier modules and high-speed optical modules.
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