Preparation and Thermal Performance Enhancement of Low Temperature Eutectic Composite Phase Change Materials Based on Na(2)SO(4)·10H(2)O

In this paper, a series of Na(2)SO(4)·10H(2)O–KCl eutectic mixtures were prepared by adding different mass fractions of KCl (1 wt.%, 3 wt.%, 5 wt.%, or 7 wt.%) to Na(2)SO(4)·10H(2)O. Polyacrylamide (PAM) was proposed as the thickener, sodium tetraborate decahydrate (STD) was proposed as the nucleating agent, and expanded graphite (EG) was proposed as the high thermal conductivity medium for Na(2)SO(4)·10H(2)O–5 wt.% KCl eutectics. The results showed that in Na(2)SO(4)·10H(2)O–5 wt.% KCl eutectics with 5 wt.% PAM and 5 wt.% STD, almost no phase separation occurred, and the degree of supercooling was reduced to 0.4 °C. The thermal performance of Na(2)SO(4)·10H(2)O–5 wt.% KCl composite phase change materials (CPCMs) with varying contents of EG was explored. The results showed that EG could improve the thermal conductivity effectively and that the mass fraction of EG should be no more than 3%, otherwise the crystallization value and supercooling would deteriorate. The thermal reliability of the Na(2)SO(4)·10H(2)O–5 wt.% KCl eutectic CPCMs containing 5 wt.% PAM, 5 wt.% STD, and 3 wt.% EG was investigated, mainly through the ambient temperature, thermal cycling test, and TGA analysis. The results demonstrated that these CPCMs showed perfect thermal reliability.