Consumer electronics and automotive systems are running hotter and packing more functionality into tighter enclosures. The thermal interface material between a heat source and its sink must bridge uneven gaps, maintain contact over thousands of thermal cycles, and do it all without adding a separate adhesive layer. The PK700 thermal pad from LiPOLY is engineered for exactly this combination of demands. It belongs to LiPOLY’s General Series, a silicone-based gel pad family that balances thermal conductivity, compressibility, and electrical isolation in a naturally tacky format.
Sitting at the top of LiPOLY’s General Series gel pad lineup, the PK700 delivers 7.0 W/m·K of thermal conductivity in a formulation engineered for low thermal impedance and natural surface tack. It is a step up in performance from the PK605, and it targets applications where heat density is too high for commodity thermal pads but where the ultra-high conductivity of LiPOLY’s Extreme Series is not required.
PK700 Specifications
The PK700 is a silicone-based thermal gel pad rated at 7.0 W/m·K (ASTM D5470). The critical figure for designers is the thermal impedance: 0.321 °C-in²/W at 10 psi and 0.288 °C-in²/W at 20 psi of contact pressure. This low impedance reflects the material’s ability to conform to mating surfaces under relatively modest clamping force, which matters in consumer electronics assemblies where mounting hardware is lightweight and clamp loads are limited.
Typical properties:
- Thermal conductivity: 7.0 W/m·K (ASTM D5470)
- Thermal impedance: 0.321 °C-in²/W @ 10 psi, 0.288 °C-in²/W @ 20 psi
- Color: Gray
- Surface tack: 2-side or 1-side, option 2
- Thickness: Customized (ASTM D374)
- Density: 3.3 g/cm³ (ASTM D792)
- Hardness: 55 Shore OO (ASTM D2240)
- Application temperature: -60°C to 180°C
- Dielectric breakdown: 12 KV/mm (ASTM D149)
- ROHS / REACH compliant
For complete technical specifications, download the PK700 datasheet (PDF).
The PK700 is available in roll form, sheet form, and die-cut parts. Its natural surface tack on one or both sides eliminates the need for a separate adhesive layer during assembly, which simplifies manufacturing and reduces material cost in the thermal stack. The 55 Shore OO hardness places it in the soft gel pad category, meaning it conforms to surface irregularities and compensates for coplanarity tolerances in multi-component assemblies.
Applications Where PK700 Excels
The 7.0 W/m·K rating puts the PK700 in the sweet spot for a broad range of consumer electronics and automotive thermal management applications:
- Notebook computers where CPU and GPU heat must transfer to heat pipes or chassis spreaders
- Heat pipe assemblies requiring conformable interface material across irregular surface geometries
- Memory modules and high-speed mass storage drives including M.2 SSDs
- TV hardware and set-top boxes with sustained thermal loads in enclosed chassis
- Automotive electronic devices and EV electric vehicle systems exposed to wide temperature swings
- Mobile devices and IP CAM units where space constraints demand thin, efficient interfaces
- 5G base station and infrastructure equipment operating under continuous duty cycles
In each of these cases, the PK700’s silicone base provides a dielectric breakdown of 12 KV/mm, enough to isolate electrically live components from grounded heatsinks without a separate insulating layer in the thermal stack. The -60°C to 180°C application temperature range covers both cold-start automotive conditions and sustained high-temperature operation.
PK700 and the LiPOLY General Series
The PK700 is the highest-conductivity option in the General Series, a family of thermal gel pads built on the same silicone platform and available in die-cut form through NEDC.
If you are working with lower thermal load, the PK605 provides 6.0 W/m·K in the same naturally tacky format. Below that, the PK504 offers 5.0 W/m·K for applications where conductivity requirements are more modest. The entire General Series shares the same application list, die-cut configurations, and compliance profile, so scaling within the series means you can maintain the same die-cut geometry and supplier process while adjusting thermal performance.
For applications that exceed 7.0 W/m·K, LiPOLY’s Extreme Series—including the T-work7000 at 11.0 W/m·K, the T-work8000 at 15.0 W/m·K, and the T-work9000 at 20.0 W/m·K—covers the higher end. But for most consumer electronics and mid-power automotive assemblies, the PK700 hits the performance target without the cost premium of the ultra-high conductivity materials.
Custom Die-Cut Supply Through NEDC
NEDC converts PK700 into custom-configured parts using die-cutting, waterjet cutting, and laser cutting depending on the material thickness and geometry. This means the pad arrives at your production line as a ready-to-place part, sized to the housing, PCB feature, or heatsink pocket it was designed for.
Kiss-cut tape-and-reel formats are also available for automated pick-and-place assembly. NEDC’s engineering team can advise on optimal thickness selection based on the available gap and clamping force in the assembly.
For a complete overview of NEDC’s thermal pad offerings, visit thermal pads at NEDC.
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*Need a custom PK700 die-cut part? Contact NEDC with your specifications.*