I am making an examination on the effects of adding cooling to some existing electronics (making an comparison between having no cooling of the electronics and adding a heatsink or heatpipe + heatsink). Therefore I am taking measurements with external thermocouples on critical components and hot spots on the PCB itself. These measurements has been done before with the thermocouple leads simply touching the intended measurement points, but I would instead like to use some thermal adhesive for a better/more true/quicker reading of the temperature.
My main problem is that any such thermal adhesive I have found seems to be very strong epoxies meant for fixation for ever. (For example this) Has anyone used any thermal adhesive solution that is "semi strong" e.g. will be reasonably strong in a laboratory environment but not intended to hold for ever, e.g can be quite easily removed as well.
Or essentially any tips from people experienced on doing temperature measurements on your PCBs/components or on using thermocouples in a good way in a laboratory setting measuring electronics.
Maybe it is possible to use some kind of silicone heat pads if they are "flexible" enough e.g. if you can form them etc as some kind of dough?
Best Answer
I've always used Kapton (aka Polyimide) tape for this purpose.
Gell type superglue work too but leaves a slight residue, e.g. BlackTak TackPack type products (wire tacking adhesive). They do chisel off with a knive if you don't use too much.
You don't say what temperatures you are going to, but I've also used tiny slices of hot melt glue and a hot air gun to melt it. More for re-working prototype designs but it might work for this too.
It can easily be removed by softening it again and using a larger glue stick to pick it off. Obviously if your surface gets close to the melting temperature then that's no use.