Just a short question I've been wondering:
Once a thermal paste gets frozen, does it lose its thermal characteristics?
More detailed description:
At some point I inadvertently placed my Noctua NH-U12F's thermal paste syringe on the outdoors storage room (must have been there for about a year or two), and the temperature can go as low as -30 celsius in the winter.
I was thinking that considering it's probably a highly synthetic compound, it might not be affected (or maybe -30 C isn't even enough to freeze it?). But also precisely because it's a compound, I fear that it might have frozen first only partially (higher melting-point alloys), and afterwards the rest (lower melting point). And once it thaws out, it might not melt back to its original "structure"/"mix".
From an outside inspection, it looks normal, there's no visible un-evenness, air/liquid bubbles or anything like that. It also spreads like it used to, I think. If an outside person saw it, he wouldn't be able to tell that it's been frozen at some point. But I just don't want it to start boiling if I put it on the heatsink.
Furthermore, it was bought in 2006, so a follow-up question would be: does the thermal paste lose its characteristics over time? There is a cap on the syringe, so it doesn't come into contact with air, at least. But now it's a 9 years old thermal paste, and if I end up using it on the new rig, as well, it will probably stay untouched for ~5 years more.
So, as I'm building a new rig atm, I was now wondering whether I would have to invest in an extra thermal paste syringe, as well? Or is it perfectly safe to still use it?
Once a thermal paste gets frozen, does it lose its thermal characteristics?
More detailed description:
At some point I inadvertently placed my Noctua NH-U12F's thermal paste syringe on the outdoors storage room (must have been there for about a year or two), and the temperature can go as low as -30 celsius in the winter.
I was thinking that considering it's probably a highly synthetic compound, it might not be affected (or maybe -30 C isn't even enough to freeze it?). But also precisely because it's a compound, I fear that it might have frozen first only partially (higher melting-point alloys), and afterwards the rest (lower melting point). And once it thaws out, it might not melt back to its original "structure"/"mix".
From an outside inspection, it looks normal, there's no visible un-evenness, air/liquid bubbles or anything like that. It also spreads like it used to, I think. If an outside person saw it, he wouldn't be able to tell that it's been frozen at some point. But I just don't want it to start boiling if I put it on the heatsink.
Furthermore, it was bought in 2006, so a follow-up question would be: does the thermal paste lose its characteristics over time? There is a cap on the syringe, so it doesn't come into contact with air, at least. But now it's a 9 years old thermal paste, and if I end up using it on the new rig, as well, it will probably stay untouched for ~5 years more.
So, as I'm building a new rig atm, I was now wondering whether I would have to invest in an extra thermal paste syringe, as well? Or is it perfectly safe to still use it?
