Electrically Nonconductive Thermal Pastes with Carbon as the Thermally Conductive Component

Abstract

Electrically nonconductive thermal pastes have been attained using carbon (carbon black or graphite) as the conductive component and ceramic (fumed alumina or exfoliated clay) as the nonconductive component. For graphite particles (5 μm), both clay and alumina are effective in breaking up the electrical connectivity, resulting in pastes with electrical resistivity up to 10¹³Ω·cm and thermal contact conductance (between copper surfaces of roughness 15 μm) up to 9 × 10⁴ W/m²·°C. For carbon black (30 nm), clay is more effective than alumina, providing a paste with resistivity 10¹¹ Ω·cm and thermal contact conductance 7 × 10⁴ W/m²·°C. Carbon black increases the thermal stability, whereas either graphite or alumina decreases the thermal stability. The antioxidation effect of carbon black is further increased by the presence of clay up to 1.5 vol.%. The addition of clay (up to 0.6 vol.%) or alumina (up to 2.5 vol.%) to graphite paste enhances the thermal stability.