One method for characterizing the contact conductance of Thermal Interface Materials (TIMs) is the steady state one dimensional heat flow method typified by ASTM D5470. A test apparatus and procedure were developed which use the basic theory of steady state testing TIMs and improves upon the accuracy and repeatability of the standard test. This procedure and apparatus were used to test the contact conductance of the interface four commercial available TIMs. These materials include: Laird Tflex 720, Laird Tmate 2905c, Chomerics Cho-Therm T500, and Chomerics Cho-Therm 1671. It was found that the Laird products underperformed the available manufacturer published values and the Chomerics products only met performance expectations at relatively high clamping pressures (400 psi).
Novel Calibration systems for the dynamic and steady-state testing of digital instrument transformers
