Thermal glue/grease for filling gaps?

Before installing a heatsink. I would like to fill in some gaps
around the heat pipes that are sandwiched between an aluminum and
copper plate (that sits on the CPU).

Don't like the idea of using an epoxy mix. I'm uncomfortable with
using them, and I would rather be able to very neatly apply the
compound. After mixing epoxy, you're sort of stuck using a spoon
or some other flat clumsy tool for the application.

Looking at this...

http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-...ref=pd_cp_pc_2

Does it dry?

That says it "Will not run, separate, migrate, or bleed".
Hopefully that means it won't ooze out of the holes.

Thanks.

In ,
John Doe typed:
Before installing a heatsink. I would like to fill in some gaps
around the heat pipes that are sandwiched between an aluminum and
copper plate (that sits on the CPU).

Fill in some gaps? You mean air space around the heat pipe? If so, leave
that alone. You want nothing there except air.

Although if you are talking about between the aluminum and the copper
plate, use nothing other than thermal paste. Usually if there is a
copper plate, which usually means it was designed for a thermal pad and
not thermal paste and a copper plate. Although it is widely accepted
that you can do this if you want. Although in my experience thermal pads
work great and can be reused about 5 times.

Don't like the idea of using an epoxy mix. I'm uncomfortable with
using them, and I would rather be able to very neatly apply the
compound. After mixing epoxy, you're sort of stuck using a spoon
or some other flat clumsy tool for the application.

Epoxy around a heat pipe? Oh that sends shivers up my spine. I would use
nothing like this around a heat pipe. Well if I was an astronaut and
that was the only thing I had to get me home... well maybe.

Looking at this...

http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-...ref=pd_cp_pc_2

Does it dry?

That says it "Will not run, separate, migrate, or bleed".
Hopefully that means it won't ooze out of the holes.

Thanks.

I never used that stuff, so I can't say. Just Arctic Silver thermal
paste.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Kingston 120GB SSD - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo T2300 1.66GHz - 4GB - ATI X1400 - Windows XP SP2

On 6/23/2014 4:38 PM, John Doe wrote:
Before installing a heatsink. I would like to fill in some gaps
around the heat pipes that are sandwiched between an aluminum and
copper plate (that sits on the CPU).

Don't like the idea of using an epoxy mix. I'm uncomfortable with
using them, and I would rather be able to very neatly apply the
compound. After mixing epoxy, you're sort of stuck using a spoon
or some other flat clumsy tool for the application.

Looking at this...

http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-...ref=pd_cp_pc_2

Does it dry?

That says it "Will not run, separate, migrate, or bleed".
Hopefully that means it won't ooze out of the holes.

Thanks.


DO NOT USE EPOXY!
Thermal Paste is usable in most cases. Occasionally, the
Heat sink has a thermal pad that may work by filling the small gaps.

"BillW50" BillW50 aol.kom wrote:

John Doe typed:

Before installing a heatsink. I would like to fill in some gaps
around the heat pipes that are sandwiched between an aluminum
and copper plate (that sits on the CPU).

Fill in some gaps?

Yes.

You mean air space around the heat pipe?

You mean like all the air space inside the case?

I'm talking about "gaps around the heat pipes that are sandwiched
between an aluminum and copper plate". I realize the
semantics/rhetoric aren't perfectly clear, but that's the concise
way of expressing it. If it needs clarification, let me know.

I really don't want to debate whether it should be done or not.
You're not going to provide any citations for that, and it's too
complex for you to figure out by yourself.

charlie cdknospam msn.com wrote:

John Doe wrote:

Before installing a heatsink. I would like to fill in some gaps
around the heat pipes that are sandwiched between an aluminum
and copper plate (that sits on the CPU).

Don't like the idea of using an epoxy mix. I'm uncomfortable
with using them, and I would rather be able to very neatly
apply the compound. After mixing epoxy, you're sort of stuck
using a spoon or some other flat clumsy tool for the
application.

Looking at this...

http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-...ref=pd_cp_pc_2

That says it "Will not run, separate, migrate, or bleed".
Hopefully that means it won't ooze out of the holes.

DO NOT USE EPOXY!

Here we go again...

Are you aware that there is such a thing as thermal epoxy? ARCTIC
SILVER sells some VERY HIGHLY RATED thermal epoxy products.

And in fact I have used superglue for attaching heatsinks. And in
fact it worked fine for years. Maybe it shouldn't, but it did.

Being kind of an expert with (a few types of) glues, I think some
thermal glue would work great if it came out of one tube, and if
it flowed easily before drying.

After doing a tiny amount of research... I have a feeling that
some sort of thermally conductive glue that requires heat for
drying might work.

Occasionally, the Heat sink has a thermal pad that may work by
filling the small gaps.

I'm not talking about the place that you usually put thermal
grease between the heatsink and CPU. That's for newbies.

John Doe wrote:
Before installing a heatsink. I would like to fill in some gaps
around the heat pipes that are sandwiched between an aluminum and
copper plate (that sits on the CPU).

Don't like the idea of using an epoxy mix. I'm uncomfortable with
using them, and I would rather be able to very neatly apply the
compound. After mixing epoxy, you're sort of stuck using a spoon
or some other flat clumsy tool for the application.

Looking at this...

http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-...ref=pd_cp_pc_2

Does it dry?

That says it "Will not run, separate, migrate, or bleed".
Hopefully that means it won't ooze out of the holes.

Thanks.

Thermal compounds use a viscous substrate material which
resists "pump-out". Normally, when a heatsink heats up, the
materials in the area expand at different rates, and
"stuff moves around". This translates to a pumping action
(as there is normal force pushing down on the whole thing).
If the substrate compound is fluid-like (such as zinc oxide in
silicon oil), the oil can leave fairly rapidly, in a few days.

The Arctic Silver product I have, is pretty thick. It also
tends to "set" in a few days. There are some materials, which
are a bit "drier" and they're almost the consistency of cookie
dough, and tend to break off in dough like pieces. Users who
have worked with that stuff, hate it, because it's so hard
to apply. There's no way to spread it on stuff. So when these
companies go too far with the "thick" idea, the product
goes down hill because of it.

*******

Yes, you can use thermal paste between heatpipes and spreader
plate. They may not meet all that well in the first place
though (not much surface area comes into direct contact), because
of the difficulty of milling exact curves and mating the stuff
nicely. When they make stuff like the old copper-core aluminum
heatsinks, where the items are heated before assembly, and basically
"crush" one another when they cool off, that's an example of
a more intimate mating (a true compression fit, with tons of
force). Heatpipes on the other hand, you can put thermal paste
around them, but any areas where the thermal paste is 1/16" thick,
it's virtually useless. The heatpipe is more conductive than
solid copper (due to the phase change action that makes pipes
so good in the first place). As soon as the pipe is separated
from the base metal by even a tiny distance, the thermal
resistance of paste is so high by comparison, it's like there
is no thermal path there at all. If the paste is really thin,
and boron nitride particles are pressed between two metal surfaces,
that conducts pretty well.

So it's really better if the metals are precisely formed
and large areas make metal to metal contact. The paste
can help, if there is a small air gap, but gross errors
in milling, bending or shaping, the paste would just
be wasted filling gaps like that. So if you sloshed
the stuff in the gap, only areas of metal separated
from their mate by 0.001", are going to get some
benefit conduction-wise. Any areas where the metals
are far apart, the paste really can't bridge them in
a useful way.

The same would happen with thermal epoxy. The math hasn't
changed. If there was some way to "crush" the components
together (more metal to metal touches), that would help,
but of course if you bust the seal on the pipe, that
ruins it. If the working fluid gets out, the pipe almost
becomes an insulator - it's performance would be terrible
without the phase change action that transfers the heat.
That's why multi-pipe coolers are preferred. If you have
four pipes, and one springs a leak, all is not lost.

Paul

Paul nospam needed.com wrote:

Yes, you can use thermal paste between heatpipes and spreader
plate. They may not meet all that well in the first place though
(not much surface area comes into direct contact), because of
the difficulty of milling exact curves and mating the stuff
nicely. When they make stuff like the old copper-core aluminum
heatsinks, where the items are heated before assembly, and
basically "crush" one another when they cool off, that's an
example of a more intimate mating (a true compression fit, with
tons of force). Heatpipes on the other hand, you can put thermal
paste around them, but any areas where the thermal paste is
1/16" thick, it's virtually useless.

That sounds more realistic than .001 inches, considering the
thickness of thermal pads.