Properties of Thermal Interface Materials and its Impact on Thermal Dissipation and Reliability of LED Automotive Lighting

The properties of thermal interface materials (TIMs), such as thermal resistance, oil bleed and long term reliability, etc., were investigated systematically in the present paper. And their impacts on LED (Light Emitting Diode) automotive lighting performance were also discussed at the same time. The results shown that different TIMs possess small difference in thermal resistance and temperature test results. All TIMs were tested by thermal resistance test instrument (T3ster) at 0.1mm thickness with a typical LED of 18.2W, the smallest thermal resistance is 0.1303K/W, while the highest thermal resistance is 0.2883K/W. Without using thermal interface material, the thermal resistance is about 0.99K/W, which refers to the thermal resistance of air. For other properties, such as oil bleed, long term reliability, etc., are also need to be considered comprehensively when it's used for LED automotive lighting.