Predicting bond line thickness of polymeric thermal interface materials based on the rheological properties

Abstract

Bond line thickness (BLT) is an essential parameter of thermal conductive composite gels as the thermal interface material (TIM). Extensive research has been performed on designing next-generation TIMs with high thermal conductivity; however, it remains elusive how to link laboratory measurements and the theoretically predicted BLT. Here, we propose a new model to estimate BLT based on a rheological property, in which the TIM is assumed to be a simple power law fluid. To avoid the unrealistic situation of the BLT tending to zero, we introduce a decaying exponential function to describe the influence from fillers during the lid attach process and rebuild the force balance equation. Compared with previously reported models, the theoretical prediction BLT based on the proposed model is in good agreement with the experimental data. Our model has a guiding significance in predicting the BLT, which may help to optimize the thermal performance of TIMs.