Enhancement of thermal conductivity of PCM using filler graphite powder materials

Abstract

The thermal conductivity of paraffin wax which is a phase change materials is enhanced by adding filler particle Graphite powder to the paraffin matrix.Praffin wax is melted in a heating mantle to its melting point of 60°c.Graphite particles are slowly added while the mixture is continuously stirred. The mixture is taken into the mould and cooled to get the composite. The time taken for melting the paraffin wax and solidifying it is noted down for each and every composition. Nielsen equation is used to calculate the thermal conductivity value analytically. SEM analysis is done to check the interaction between the matrix and the filler particles. The necessary graphs were plotted between the solidification time vs volume fraction, melting time vs volume fraction, thermal conductivity vs volume fraction. In the end we observed that the thermal conductivity value of the paraffin wax is significantly increased. The highest thermal conductivity is obtained for the paraffin wax with 60% composition and the value is found to be 7.1w/mk.