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promulgated over the last 18 years by some of the interface
materials suppliers for one specific reason. Both end-users
and suppliers realized that the lack of such a standard led to a Cooling Unit
variety of thepal test methods that somehow all resulted in
the same high thermal perfnrmance data for a whole range of U
thermal interface materials. The Defense General Supply Figure 1. Schematic of the thermal test fature
Center in Richmond, VA initiated the development of a
standard test method for thermal properties within the It consists of a guarded heater, upper and lower
framework of ASTM. The work was started in 1984 and the calorimeters and a thennostated cold plate. The test fixture is
test method was finally published in 1993 as D8470, placed in a press to apply a compressive load to the specimen
‘Thermal Transmission Properties of Thin, Thermally being tested.
Conductive Solid Electrical Insulation Materials”. The guarded heater consists of an aluminum guard heater.
D5470 is intended to measure these properties under separated from the main aluminum heater by a thermal
strictly controlled conditions allowing different laboratories to insulator. Both heaters are equipped with wire wound
generate equivalent thermal data. D5470 measures the cartridge heaters powered by regulated dc power supplies.
thermal resistance and the thermal conductivity of a material Each heater is equipped with a thermocouple for temperature
directly. monitoring.
Thermal resistance, R, is measured by establishing a The calorimeters are 28.7 mm diameter, 35 mm long
known, one-dimensional heat flux, Q/A, acrnss a specimen aluminum cylinders. Each is equipped with two type T
and measuring the temperature difference, AT, across the thermocouples located 25 nun apart and 5 mm from the
specimen at equilibrium. The thermal resistance of the edges. The thermocouples are inserted into 1 mm diameter
specimen is the ratio of the temperature difference to the heat wells that go to the center h e of the calorimeter and are
flux. secured in the wells with either a thermally conductive epoxy
R = AT x ( A / Q ) (1) or silicone compound. The thermocouples are used to
determine to surface temperature of the calorimeters in
contact with the test material by extrapolation as described in
ASTM D8470. The surfaces of the calorimeters are flat to
0-7803-7793-1/02/$17.00 0 2003 E E E 119 19th IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium
about 2 micron / cm and have a surface fmish of
approximately 1.6 micron.
Thermocouples are calibrated at 0 "C in an ice bath and
near 100 "C at the boiling point of water using primary
reference standard thermometers. These thermometers are
calibrated against NIST traceable equipment and are available
from any scientific supply house.
The cooling unit is a water-cooled block of aluminum. Its
temperature is controlled by a thermostated water bath
capable of 0.1 K temperature regulation.
Test Procedure
Thermal resistance of an interface material is measured by
placing the specimen between the calorimeter surfaces,
applying the required compressive load, and applying power
to the guard and main heaters. The guard heater temperature 0 0.4 0.8 1.2
is kept within +/- 0.2 K during the test to prevent heat loss. Thickness, cm
The system is considered to have reached equilibrium when
the main heater temperature is constant over a 5-minute Figure 2. Plot of thermal resistance vs. thickness for an
period. At this point the input power and the temperature electrically insulating silicone pad.
difference across the specimen are recorded and the thermal Form-Stable Elastomers
resistance is calculated.
The thermal conductivity of an electrically insulating
Thermal conductivity is measured, by determining the silicone pad was measured using this same procedure. The
thermal resistance at different specimen thickness. Thickness
test specimen thickness was varied by plying layers of
is varied by plying up different number of layers of material
material to form stacks of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 layers. Thermal
to form stacks of 1,2, 3,4 and 5 layers. Sufficient pressure is resistance was measured at a 3.4 MPa compressive load. The
applied during the test to eliminate any interlayer contact thickness, d, of each compressed stack was measured after the
resistance. Unsupported material can be prepared by molding
test and was used for the calculations. The results are shown
at different thickness. Materials that are liquid at test in Table 2 and Figure 3.
temperatures will require a compression stop. The thermal
resistance of these stacks is measured and the plot of
thickness vs. thermal resistance Table 2. Thermal resistance vs. thickness of an electricallv
insulating silicone pad
Measurement Capability Layers Thickness, cm R,K-cm"V
The capability of this method can be shown by measuring 1 0.024 1.06
the thermal properties of a thermal conductivity standard. 2 0.048 1.99
Austenitic stainless steel reference material, SRM 1462,
3 0.070 2.66
obtained from NIST was machined into 2.9 cm diameter disks
of 0.25, 0.38, 0.76 and 1.02 cm thickness. Dow Coming DC 4 0.098 3.52
340 thermal grease was used to minimize contact resistance 5 0.120 4.40
between the disks and the calorimeters. The results are shown
in Table I and Figure 2. The slope of the R vs. d curve in Figure 3 is ~33.9which
corresponds to k = 2.95 W/m-K. Figure 3 also shows that at 0
Table I . Thermal resistance vs. thickness of SRMl462 thickness the thermal resistance is 0.29 K-cm21W. This
resistance is the contact resistance between the material and
Thickness, em Thermal Resistance, K-cm'/W
the calorimeters. This shows that even at compressive loads
0 0.04
as high as 3.5 MPa, there is still some contact resistance
0.25 1.87 between the silicone elastomer and the metal surfaces.
0.38 2.56 The thermal properties for the above material measured by
0.76 5.21 this method are its thermal resistance, 1.06 K-cm'm, and
1.02 6.83 thermal conductivity, 2.95 W/m-K. Thermal conductivity is
independent of fie condition of the calorimeter surfaces. The
The slope of the curve in Figure 2 is equal to the inverse thermal resistance value however is the sum of all the
of the thermal conductivity of the SRM 1462. The intercept resistance between the calorimeters, the resistance of the
is the contact resistance between the greased SRM surface and material as well as the contact resistances at the surfaces.
this set of calorimeters. Using least mean squares, the data Thus the measured thermal resistance can be apparatus
above results in 14.99 W/m-K for the thermal conductivity of dependent.
SRM 1642. The value published by NIST at 50 "C is 14.74
Wlm-K which represents a 1.7 % variance