The authors have prepared a shape-stabilized composite phase change material (ss-CPCM) using paraffin encapsulated in SiO2. SiO2 was chosen because of its low cost, such that the resultant ss-CPCM would be a feasible option for use at the commercial or industrial scale. The composite was examined using FTIR and XRD and it was confirmed that it had excellent chemical compatibility and stability. The thermal storage capability and thermal conductivity results ...
A novel composite phase change material (PCM) composed of LiNO3/KCl with expanded graphite (EG) as a filler was prepared and investigated to determine if it had potential for use in solar energy storage applications. The addition of the expanded graphite did not significantly alter the melting temperature in comparison with the eutectic LiNO3/KCl PCM; however, the latent heat of fusion did significantly decrease with increasing mass fractions of ...
In this work, the authors tested five organic phase change materials for thermophysical properties (density, heat capacity, and thermal conductivity) in order to determine the best path to prediction (BPP) for the thermal diffusivity of organic PCMs in the liquid phase. Separate BPPs were determined for alkanes and unsaturated acids. The identified BPPs were then tested on a variety of materials and the estimated thermal diffusivity was within 15% for all ...
Thermal energy storage (TES) is incredibly important to expanding the field of renewable energy. In this study, the authors look at the potential of composite phase change materials (PCMs) for use in this application. A ball milling method was used to exfoliate expanded graphite in nanosheets that could be added to eicosane to create composite materials. Composites with nanosheets of various sizes were created, and the effect of cooling rate ...
HVAC systems have become very popular, but require a lot of thermal storage. One way to provide this storage is through phase change materials (PCM). This report investigates using expanded graphite to improve the thermal conductivity of a capric, lauric and oleic acid mixture PCM. It was found that with the increase in mass fraction of expanded graphite the thermal conductivity of the PCM also increases....
