Thermal paste chemical reaction with copper base

[theShark]

I saw on the Socket a/370 cooler roundup it says "One problem with all copper heatsinks is that in the long term, most thermal compounds will enter a chemical reaction with the copper base." for the Alpha PAL6035.
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1361&p=8
Will this happen with Artic Silver? Will it damage anything?

 

[Flat]

Unless you use the Artic Silver Epoxy or #$&%y paste from like radio shack, no reaction should occur, btw you can get alluminum paste which works nearly as well as silver for a fraction of the cost. best place to buy Arc Silver or allum paste is plycon.com

 

[Mikewarrior2]

But the aluminum comes in 1.5gram tubes at a cost of 3.99. Arctic Silver comes in tubes of 6.5grams. Their price is virtually identical.


Mike

 

[dkozloski]

It never ceases to amaze me how goofy the theories get that become spread around. I have used thermal transfer compounds between transistors and heatsinks, both made of copper, for forty years with nary a sign of any chemical reaction. NASA and MIL-Specs have called for the use of these compounds under the most extreme of environmental conditions with never a mention of such a problem. The first requirement for such a reaction would be moisture which is completely excluded by the silicon oil base of the compound. A common sense test is to try to rinse heatsink paste off with water and see how far you get. This stuff is resistant to many common solvents and always seems to leave a film that is very difficult to remove. Where the confusion may come from is that silicon RTV rubber compounds can give off acetic acid fumes as they cure and turn copper green but this has nothing to do with heatsink compounds.