Preparation and Properties of l-octadecanol/1,3:2,4-di-(3,4-dimethyl) Benzylidene Sorbitol/Expanded Graphite Form-stable Composite Phase Change Material

Abstract

A 1-octadecanol (OD)/1,3:2,4-di-(3,4-dimethyl) benzylidene sorbitol (DMDBS)/expander graphite (EG) composite was prepared as a form-stable phase change material (PCM) by vacuum melting method. The results of field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) showed that 1-octadecanol was restricted in the three-dimensional network formed by DMDBS and the honeycomb network formed by EG. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) results showed that no chemical reaction occurred among the components of composite PCM in the preparation process. The gel-to-sol transition temperature of the composite PCMs containing DMDBS was much higher than the melting point of pure 1-octadecanol. The improvements in preventing leakage and thermal stability limits were mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of the three-dimensional network formed by DMDBS and the honeycomb network formed by EG. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used to determine the latent heat and phase change temperature of the composite PCMs. During melting and freezing process the latent heat values of the PCM with the composition of 91% OD/3% DMDBS/6% EG were 214.9 and 185.9 kJ·kg−1, respectively. Its degree of supercooling was only 0.1 °C. Thermal constant analyzer results showed that its thermal conductivity (κ) changed up to roughly 10 times over that of OD/DMDBS matrix.