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Structure, Characterization and Thermal Properties of the Form-Stable Paraffin/High-Density Polyethylene/Expanded Graphite/Epoxy Resin Composite PCMs for Thermal Energy Storage

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Abstract

The form-stable paraffin/high-density polyethylene/expanded graphite/epoxy resin composite phase change materials (CPCMs), exhibiting suitable thermal properties, including low melting temperature, high conductivity and high phase change enthalpy, was developed in this work. Herein, paraffin (PA) was utilized as a core PCM. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) was utilized for the shape stabilization and preventing the PCMs leakage. Expanded graphite (EG) was used to increase its thermal conductivity and act also in the porous supporting material. Epoxy resin (ER) was used to provide flexible encapsulated scaffold morphology and keep a highly tight network structure of the PCMs. However, the physical architecture, the chemical architecture and thermal behavior properties of specimens were investigated by using the spectroscopy and calorimetry techniques. The scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and fourier transform infrared spectrometer FTIR tests have shown good uniformity structure and good compatibility of components. In addition, the thermal conductivity tests revealed that the thermal conductivity of PA, initially 0.31 W/(m·K) improved up to 1.9 times by adding the 6 wt% mass fraction of EG in composite PCMs. Furthermore, the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) measurements indicated that PA melting enthalpy, initially 231 J/g decreased up to 125 J/g with the increase of the amount of HDPE which was due to the limitation caused by the atomic network constructed by the base material. The thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and leakage-proof revealed the enhancement of the degradation of PA with the raise of amount of the HDPE into the CPCMs. Therefore, the proposed form-stable CPCMs are a great candidate for the thermal regulation and thermal energy storage employment.

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Acknowledgment

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52206087, 52130607), the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province, China (20JR10RA193), the Industrial Support Plan Project of Gansu Provincial Education Department (2022CYZC-21, 2021CYZC-27), the Doctoral Research Funds of Lanzhou University of Technology (061907) and the Red Willow Excellent Youth Project of Lanzhou University of Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Hamir Johan Mombeki Pea, Zhoujian An, Xiaoze Du, Tianlu Shi & Dong Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Complementary Energy System of Biomass and Solar Energy, Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Hamir Johan Mombeki Pea, Zhoujian An, Xiaoze Du, Tianlu Shi & Dong Zhang

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  1. Hamir Johan Mombeki Pea
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Correspondence to Zhoujian An or Xiaoze Du.

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Mombeki Pea, H.J., An, Z., Du, X. et al. Structure, Characterization and Thermal Properties of the Form-Stable Paraffin/High-Density Polyethylene/Expanded Graphite/Epoxy Resin Composite PCMs for Thermal Energy Storage. J. Therm. Sci. 32, 2104–2114 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-023-1800-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-023-1800-4

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