Thermally Conductive Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Materials Enabled by Paraffin Wax and Nanoporous Structural Expanded Graphite
Paraffin wax (PW) has significant potential for spacecraft thermal management, but low thermal conductivity and leakage issues make it no longer sufficient for the requirements of evolving spacecraft thermal control systems. Although free-state expanded graphite (EG) as a thermal conductivity enhanc...
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2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nanomaterials |
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| author | Yilin Zhao Shuhui Huang Zhaoguo Jin Zhongnan Xie Hong Guo Haofeng Xie |
| author_facet | Yilin Zhao Shuhui Huang Zhaoguo Jin Zhongnan Xie Hong Guo Haofeng Xie |
| author_sort | Yilin Zhao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Paraffin wax (PW) has significant potential for spacecraft thermal management, but low thermal conductivity and leakage issues make it no longer sufficient for the requirements of evolving spacecraft thermal control systems. Although free-state expanded graphite (EG) as a thermal conductivity enhancer can ameliorate the above problems, it remains challenging to achieve higher thermal conductivity (K) (>8 W/(m·K)) at filler contents below 10 wt.% and to mitigate the leakage problem. Two preparations of thermally conductive shape-stabilized PW/EG composites, using the pressure-induced method and prefabricated skeleton method, were designed in this paper. The expanded graphite formed a nanoscale porous structure by different methods, which enhanced the capillary action between the graphite flake layers, improved the adsorption and encapsulation of EG, and alleviated the leakage problem. The thermal conductivity and the latent heat of the phase-change materials (PCM) prepared by the two methods mentioned above are 9.99 W/(m·K), 10.70 W/(m·K) and 240.06 J/g, 231.67 J/g, respectively, at EG loading by 10 wt.%, and the residual mass fraction was greater than 99% after 50 cycles of high and low temperature. In addition, due to the excellent thermal management capability of PW/EG, the operating temperature of electronic components can be stably maintained at 68–71 °C for about 15 min and the peak temperature can be reduced by at least 23 °C when the heating power of the electronic components is 10 w. These provide novel and cost-effective methods to further improve the management capability of spacecraft thermal control systems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cab9942407d143dfba846df9c339d95d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2079-4991 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Nanomaterials |
| spelling | doaj-art-cab9942407d143dfba846df9c339d95d2025-01-24T13:44:10ZengMDPI AGNanomaterials2079-49912025-01-0115211010.3390/nano15020110Thermally Conductive Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Materials Enabled by Paraffin Wax and Nanoporous Structural Expanded GraphiteYilin Zhao0Shuhui Huang1Zhaoguo Jin2Zhongnan Xie3Hong Guo4Haofeng Xie5State Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals and Processes, GRIMN Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100088, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals and Processes, GRIMN Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100088, ChinaHaiwing Aerospace Materials Research Institute Co., Ltd., Suzhou 215002, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals and Processes, GRIMN Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100088, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals and Processes, GRIMN Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100088, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals and Processes, GRIMN Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100088, ChinaParaffin wax (PW) has significant potential for spacecraft thermal management, but low thermal conductivity and leakage issues make it no longer sufficient for the requirements of evolving spacecraft thermal control systems. Although free-state expanded graphite (EG) as a thermal conductivity enhancer can ameliorate the above problems, it remains challenging to achieve higher thermal conductivity (K) (>8 W/(m·K)) at filler contents below 10 wt.% and to mitigate the leakage problem. Two preparations of thermally conductive shape-stabilized PW/EG composites, using the pressure-induced method and prefabricated skeleton method, were designed in this paper. The expanded graphite formed a nanoscale porous structure by different methods, which enhanced the capillary action between the graphite flake layers, improved the adsorption and encapsulation of EG, and alleviated the leakage problem. The thermal conductivity and the latent heat of the phase-change materials (PCM) prepared by the two methods mentioned above are 9.99 W/(m·K), 10.70 W/(m·K) and 240.06 J/g, 231.67 J/g, respectively, at EG loading by 10 wt.%, and the residual mass fraction was greater than 99% after 50 cycles of high and low temperature. In addition, due to the excellent thermal management capability of PW/EG, the operating temperature of electronic components can be stably maintained at 68–71 °C for about 15 min and the peak temperature can be reduced by at least 23 °C when the heating power of the electronic components is 10 w. These provide novel and cost-effective methods to further improve the management capability of spacecraft thermal control systems.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/15/2/110shape-stabilized phase change materialthermal conductivitylatent heatparaffin waxexpanded graphitenanoporous structure |
| spellingShingle | Yilin Zhao Shuhui Huang Zhaoguo Jin Zhongnan Xie Hong Guo Haofeng Xie Thermally Conductive Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Materials Enabled by Paraffin Wax and Nanoporous Structural Expanded Graphite Nanomaterials shape-stabilized phase change material thermal conductivity latent heat paraffin wax expanded graphite nanoporous structure |
| title | Thermally Conductive Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Materials Enabled by Paraffin Wax and Nanoporous Structural Expanded Graphite |
| title_full | Thermally Conductive Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Materials Enabled by Paraffin Wax and Nanoporous Structural Expanded Graphite |
| title_fullStr | Thermally Conductive Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Materials Enabled by Paraffin Wax and Nanoporous Structural Expanded Graphite |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thermally Conductive Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Materials Enabled by Paraffin Wax and Nanoporous Structural Expanded Graphite |
| title_short | Thermally Conductive Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Materials Enabled by Paraffin Wax and Nanoporous Structural Expanded Graphite |
| title_sort | thermally conductive shape stabilized phase change materials enabled by paraffin wax and nanoporous structural expanded graphite |
| topic | shape-stabilized phase change material thermal conductivity latent heat paraffin wax expanded graphite nanoporous structure |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/15/2/110 |
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