Analysis of copper foam/low melting point alloy composite phase change material

Abstract

• Copper foam has a more significant improvement in n-tricosane. • Copper foam/47 alloy is still better in temperature management performance. • Copper foam limits the temperature rise of 47 alloy during the phase transformation. • The low ratio of copper foam greatly improves 47 alloy. • The higher the porosity, the better the temperature management performance. In the current paper, we present the influence of adding high thermal conductivity materials on the thermal management performance of low-melting-point alloys in different aspects. We analyze the phase change process of 47 alloy and n-tricosane before and after compounding with copper foam based on numerical simulation. Moreover, we calculate the temperature management curve of low-melting-point alloy composite materials with different foam porosity. Our results indicate that the addition of copper foam significantly improves the thermal management performance of n-tricosane. Due to the difference in latent heat, the thermal management time of copper foam/47 alloy is 1.21 times higher than the former. The addition of copper foam mainly improves its thermal response and inhibits the temperature rise in the phase transition stage. Just 5% of copper foam has a significant effect. For copper foam/47 alloy, the higher the porosity, the stronger the temperature management ability. This feature is more prominent when the upper limit is the temperature below the melting point.