Effects of Pore Structure and Pore Size of Expanded Graphite on the Properties of Paraffin Wax/Expanded Graphite Composite Phase Change Materials

Lipin Feng, Jian Wu, Wenjuan Sun and Weimeng Cai
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Lipin Feng: Department of Energy Materials & Chemical Engineering, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, China
Jian Wu: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Wenjuan Sun: School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Anhui Vocational and Technical College, Hefei 230011, China
Weimeng Cai: Department of Energy Materials & Chemical Engineering, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: In order to study the effects of the pore structure and pore size of porous carrier material on the phase transformation behavior of composite phase change materials (CPCMs), the pore structure and pore sizes of three different sizes of expanded graphites (EGs) (50, 80, 100 mesh) were studied using N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherms and scanning electron microscopy. Then, the thermal characterization of CPCMs prepared with paraffin wax and EGs were tested using differential scanning calorimetry and a thermal conductivity tester. The results showed that EG-50 had a more web-like pore structure, and thus, higher adsorption capacity for paraffin wax. The addition of EG could reduce the supercooling degree of CPCMs and improve the thermal conductivity of CPCMs. CPCM with EG-50 had better performance due to its large specific surface area and low interfacial resistance. Compared with paraffin wax, the phase transition temperature (ΔT) of CPCMs increased slightly and the latent heat of CPCMS decreased to varying degrees. As the pore size of EG decreased, its constraint on PCM increased, but ΔT of CPCMs decreased, which was due to the combination of phase transformation behavior of different components in paraffin wax, which violates the conventional change law. It could be seen that the phase change behavior of CPCMs was related not only to the pore size of EG but also to the composition of PCM.

Keywords: expanded graphite; paraffin wax; phase change material; pore structure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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