1. Regarding thermal conductivity, is it better to join, lets say two (or more) flat plates of copper or aluminum (assuming that they are lapped and polished), by soldering or screwing together with thermal paste in between?
2. Is there a thermal adhesive that glues together hard enough to hold but not as hard as “Arctic Silver Alumina”? I avoid to use Arctic Alumina because it is very hard to remove when cured and I haven’t found anything that holds and at the same time provides good thermal conductivity.
2. Thanks again, but that is not what I’m looking for. Arctic alumina is much easier to remove by heating then solder. I want to avoid heating, I need something between thermal epoxy and regular thermal paste. I was using “Fujik” thermal glue from FastTech but it has poor thermal conductivity in comparison to Arctic products.
What some people do is use grease but with a bit of adhesive around the edges, clamping until the adhesive sets. If you are joining flexible plates then glue, screws, or solder will be your choices
Screwing together with grease/paste (not hardened). If you are lapping the parts and mechanically pressing the parts together, any decent thermal grease will work. You want as little material between the plates as possible to get maximum direct copper to copper contact. So stuff that hardens would be inferior in this situation.
