At work I've always had the gooey thick white
> or pink grease. This thinner stuff was called heat sink grease
> (I don't recall where I bought it). Unlike the thicker gooey stuff,
> this stuff travelled and I suspect failed to do a decent job.
>
Howdy - I have been working with power electronics for 40 years. The object
of "heat sink compound" is to displace air (lousy heat transfer) with
something that has a better heat transfer. Nothing is better than metal to
metal for heat transfer so you do not want to separate the metal with a
thick coating of something. The purpose of the oil/grease is to be applied
with a very thin layer so it only fills in the microscopic pores of the
metal with heat transfer material instead of air. It is not supposed to
block the metal touching metal.
Hope this helps the understanding.
Tom, W7QF
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