I have searched the forums put could not really find what I was looking for. I know that DC case fans are housed in some type of plastic (maybe thermoplastic) and have a storage and operating temp spec. Can someone point me to where I could find out more information on the type(s) of plastics that the fans are housed in? Also I know that there are thermal pastes and pads for HSF use. I cannot seem to find the "inverse" of these compounds, namely thermal pastes/pads which are insulators not conductors. I find thermal insulator fabrics, clothes, etc. but not pastes or pads that are packaged/manufactured with the same dimensions as the regular thermally conductive pastes/pads. Thank you.

Whatever do you want thermal insulators for? If anything gets hot enough to damage the plastic of the fan housing, that is going to be the least of your problems. Your CPU would be toasted long before the fan melted, after all it is only an electric motor costing a few dollars. Its never going to generate enough heat of its own to do any damage. Stuart

Sorry, I should have explained this in my original post. I tinker with electronics and I am going to be doing some HALT testing by connecting a DC power supply to an active load controlled by some logic and I need a way to cool off the active load. I want to see if I can buy some off-the-shelf parts before ordering specified components. The active load will be dissipating about the same power as a decent CPU ~40W. I will connected the FET to a heatsink and the fan to the heatsink and just for overkill I was considering putting some thermal insulation between the heatsink and the plastic housing of the fan. I will not be using this with a CPU or a computer. Thanks. whoami

Cool. Sorry just couldn't resist. As for the fan I think you would need to consider an aluminum fan. Check with>>> www.microcenter.com www.thinkgeek.com www.xoxide.com Some I have seen come with a speed controller as part of the package. Now as for an insulator you might want to check into a silicone paste such as GE's silicone sealant. Don't get that stuff on your clothes as it's waterproof and will NOT come out. I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid...

Thanks for the info setishock: I probably won't be using a fan controller just yet. Just on or off (no fuzzy logic) for now. But I will look into those links and that silicone paste. whoami