How do I clean PTM7950 off a heatsink/processor?

Question

I recently picked up some PTM7950, and its an unusual thermal solution compared to most I've tried. Its a thermal pad that melts at the higher end of room temperature (~45 degrees). I'm in the middle of a PC build where my cooler got post in the post. I have ordered an alternative, but if my cooler does turn up later, I might choose to switch so I'm deciding between going with traditional heat sink paste (which a known quanitity) or the PTM, which in my testing, is much easier to do an install of and apparently works very well.

It has some interesting characteristics - I store mine in the fridge and its roughly got the flexibility and general characteristics of unchewed chewing gum. It comes sandwiched in plastic and I tried applying it on a 10G NIC and when I removed one side and rubbed it, it neatly stuck on to just the chip. It melts when warmed and is solid when cold.

Assuming I need to remove it - its neither a thermal pad, nor a traditional heat sink paste. It'll apparently peel off when cold, scrape off when hot but... I don't have any documentation on whether its soluble in isopropyl or what I should use for surface prep if I decide to remove it.

How should I remove PTM7950 from an existing install of it?

Answer 1

I scienced this myself

After several thermal cycles, the pad melts into a VERY thin paste. There some degree of adhesion between the heatsink and processor, and I had to VERY carefully rock the heatsink to remove it.

Once removed I observed a very thin, dry, almost plastic seeming grey substance on the contact surfaces

Processor

Heatsink

Use of a plastic scraper on remaining thermal compound allows for most of it to be scraped off, almost as if it was wax

Any remaining residue dissolves in isopropyl alcohol for full clean up. This seems in line with the previously written and researched answer.

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So it turns out Do All The Things ! on youtube's done it, and I did a few small scale experiments myself. It mostly behaves somewhere in between a thermal pad (when cold) and usual thermal paste (when warm).

While its a pad (and mostly peels off) and while dosen't it seem too sticky , it leaves a light residue on the contact surfaces as it melts and moulds to the processor and heat sink

'Cold' PTM can be gently scraped off for most part. The comments in the video suggest a plastic scraper for bulk material removal- which incidentally came with the pad/kit I bought

The residue stuck to a chip is thin, something like what you'd get if you did the squeegeed thermal paste.

It does seem to dissolve very readily in isopropyl alcohol so the 'standard' prep methods for repasting would work.

Practically it dosen't seem very different from how you'd treat a conventional paste application.

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