Preparation and effective thermal conductivity of a Paraffin/ Metal Foam composite

Abstract

In this work, a paraffin- metal foam composite were prepared by the vacuum impregnation method. Aluminum and nickel foams were used. The aim of this study is to characterize the thermal behavior of these composites with a view to their use for the thermal management of Li-ion batteries. First, thermal conductivities and diffusivities in solid state were evaluated using a Hot Disk Thermal Constants Analyzer (TPS 2500S) and the Transient Guarded Hot Plate Technique (TGHPT) was used to determine thermal conductivity in liquid state. Next, the effective thermal conductivity of the composite was modeled as a function of the structure of the foam, the thermal conductivity of the metal foam and the thermal conductivity of the PCM. The results show a high impact of thermal conductivity of metal foam and a minor impact of pore size on the effective thermal conductivity.