Nanocomposite phase change materials (PCMs) were prepared by adding silver nanoparticles to isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and an iPP/paraffin wax phase change materials. The Ag nanoparticles were found to be well dispersed in both iPP and the iPP/wax composite, and filler agglomeration was found to increase with increasing filler content. The nanoparticles did not significantly affect the modulus of the iPP on its own, but when Ag and paraffin ...
The use of organic compounds as phase change materials (PCMs) is limited by the low thermal conductivity of these compounds. In this study, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were dispersed in n-octadecane to determine if this nanocomposite PCM would have a higher thermal conductivity than that of pure n-octadecane. The thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite PCMs was measured using the transient plane source (TPS) method at mass ...
Al2O3, TiO2 nanoparticles, and carbon nanotubes were added to Iraqi paraffin wax in varying quantities to determine the optimum filler content for the enhancement of thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity was enhanced by 65 and 40% for samples containing 5 wt. % of Al2O3 and TiO2 nanoparticles, respectively. It was concluded that the addition of these nanoparticles to paraffin wax enhanced the thermal conductivity of the phase change material without sacrificing its ...
Nanoparticle suspensions were prepared in two PCMs to determine the effect of the addition of nanoparticles on thermal conductivity and expediting freezing. The base PCMs used were cyclohexane and eicosane, and copper oxide nanoparticles were suspended in these hydrocarbons to produce nano-enhanced PCMs (nePCMs). The enhancement of thermal conductivity and expedited freezing were investigated by analytic, experimental, and numerical methods. The thermal conductivity in the liquid phase was significantly enhanced ...
Carbon/liquid-crystal polymer composites were formulated. Composites containing one of three types of carbon filler, composites containing two types of carbon filler, and composites containing all three types of carbon filler were prepared to test not only the effect of each filler on the thermal conductivity of the composite, but also the effect of combining fillers. The anisotropic method on a TPS system was used for the thermal conductivity measurements. ...
