Experimental study on preparation of a novel foamed cement with paraffin/ expanded graphite composite phase change thermal energy storage material

Abstract

This study proposed a novel foaming cement heat preservation block with heat storage, peak clipping, and temperature adjustment functions. To produce such cements, a paraffin/expansion graphite composite phase change heat storage material with a phase transition temperature of 41.9℃ and a enthalpy value of 207.6 J/g was prepared. Then the composite phase change material (PCM) loaded paraffin at 44℃ into expanded graphite and then was mixed cement uniformly. The porous structure of the foamed cement has light weight and good heat preservation capacity so that then composite PCM can effectively store heat energy and shave the load peak. To investigate the characteristics of the proposed material, this focuses on the physical structure, thermal storage capacity and thermal insulation performance when the material mass fractions of PCM are 10%、15%、20%、25% and 30%. The experimental results show that with the increase of the mass fraction of PCM, the thermal storage capacity and thermal insulation properties of the foamed cement increases. In addition, there is no chemical reaction between the materials. The results show a the proposed material has a potential in creating efficient thermal insulation walls.