Preparation and Properties of Nanoparticle-enhanced Composite Phase Change Material with Ceramic Porous Media

Nanoparticle-enhanced tailing-paraffin composite phase change material (NCPCM) is fabricated by spontaneous melt infiltration. Industrial waste-iron tailing is used as raw material to prepare ceramic porous carrier with a foam-gel casting method. By adjusting the fabrication parameters, optimal NCPCM properties are obtained with paraffin content of 70%~88% and thermal conductivity of 0.351~0.490 W/(m·K), which is nearly 200% the thermal conductivity of paraffin wax. After 25 melting/solidification cycles, the nanoparticles remain well dispersion with overall stability in the composite phase change material, and the thermal conductivity slightly decreased from 0.349 to 0.317 W/ m·K. With multiple melting and solidification cycles, a low weight loss of 2.3~7.8 wt.% is demonstrated. The strength of ceramic frame is found to have a direct effect on the weight loss. Compared with exisiting nanoparticle-enhanced phase change material, the new NCPCM shows significantly improved thermal conductivity and better nanoparticle stability due to its ability to prevent nanoparticles from disposition.