High thermal conductivity phase change composite with a metal-stabilized carbon-fiber network

Published Date
Applied Energy
1 October 2016, Vol.179:1–6, doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.04.070

Author 

• Takahiro Nomura ^a,,
• Chunyu Zhu ^a
• Sheng Nan ^a
• Kazuki Tabuchi ^a
• Shuangfeng Wang ^b
• Tomohiro Akiyama ^a

• aCenter for Advanced Research of Energy and Materials, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13, Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
• bKey Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation of the Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China

Received 20 February 2016. Revised 9 April 2016. Accepted 11 April 2016. Available online 30 June 2016. 

Highlights

• •
  A phase change composite with carbon fiber and indium as fillers was developed.
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  The composites were prepared by a hot pressing method.
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  Thermal conductivity of the composites improved with increasing indium volume fraction.
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  Cyclic durability of the composites improved with increasing indium volume fraction.
• •
  The carbon-fiber network was welded and stabilized by the indium.

Abstract

To enhance the thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCM) such as sugar alcohol and molten salts, the preparation of a phase change composite (PCC) with a PCM and a filler with high thermal conductivity has been widely investigated. Although many reported PCCs have high thermal conductivity, the stability during thermal cycling endurance is often too low for practical use. This paper describes the development of a PCC with both high thermal conductivity and high cyclic durability. The PCCs were prepared by a hot-pressing method. Erythritol (melting point: 118 °C, thermal conductivity: 0.73 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹) was used as a PCM, and carbon fiber (thermal conductivity: 900 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ in the fiber direction) and indium particles (thermal conductivity: 82.8 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹) were used as the high thermal conductivity fillers. The effective thermal conductivity of the PCC was measured using the laser flash method and the network structures were analyzed using energy dispersive spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Thermal cycling tests through the melting and solidification phases of the erythritol were performed to investigate the cyclic durability of the PCCs. We found that the indium particles melted during hot pressing, welding together the carbon fiber to produce a stable percolating network, which significantly enhanced the thermal conductivity and cyclic endurance of the PCCs.

Keywords

Phase change material

Network structure

Latent heat storage

Thermal conductivity

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• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author.

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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