The goal of this work was to produce a new high performance PCM, using a combination of RT 100 (paraffinic hydrocarbons) with expanded graphite (EG). The resulting composite performed extremely well in quality testing. Thermal conductivity was measured using the TPS method, and was found to be much higher in the composite than it was in the basic RT 100 materials. Thermal conductivity did not decrease during melting cycles. The ability of ...
A new composite phase change material for cold thermal energy storage applications is described in this paper. The authors combined dodecane into hydrophobic fumed silica to create a form stable PCM. Physical characteristics were studied using scanning through electron micrographs and Fourier transformation infrared. A thermal analyzer was used to measure the thermal conductivity of the composite, which was a desired low value needed for this type of application. An ...
As the world works to combat climate change, focus has turned to reducing energy use. More efficient thermal insulation could drastically reduce the energy use of residential homes. In this paper, the research team focused on reducing the thermal conductivity of polymeric foams. A number of foam samples with varying cell sizes between 90nm and 100um were created, to show that reducing pore size also reduces the thermal conductivity. The ...
In an effort to become more sustainable, the construction industry has been looking for ways to use less new raw materials by making use of waste by-products from industrial applications. In this study, nano-crystalline aluminum sludge was added as a filler to clay bricks. The hope was that this would not only be an environmentally friendly product, but that it would also improve the thermal properties of the bricks. The ...
The authors present a multiple-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann model with an off-diagonal collision matrix for use in predicting the thermal conductivity of anisotropic heterogeneous materials with anisotropic components. Model accuracy was first confirmed through comparison with previous simulation results. In this paper the model was applied to measure the tranverse and longitudinal thermal conductivities of 3D4D braided composites. The TPS method was used to measure the conductivities experimentally for comparison ...
