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Author(s): , ,

Keywords: , , , , , , , ,

Abstract: This paper focused on determining the thermal conductivity of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) that were dispersed throughout n-octadecane as phase change materials (PCMs). The Thermal Constants Analyzer TPS measured the thermal conductivity of the n-octadecane samples at solid and liquid phases using the transient plane source (TPS) method. Results showed that the thermal conductivity of the solid phase n¬-octadecane/MWCNTs samples increased with nanotube concentration. The solid and liquid phase PCMs followed a similar decreasing trend as temperature rose, but overall, thermal conductivity values were much lower in the liquid phase. These results give reason to believe that CNFs and MWCNTs may be used as energy storage composites in the future.

Reference: Heat and Mass Transfer, 51, 10 (2015)

DOI: 10.1007/s00231-015-1678-0