Relationship between the Cu content and thermal properties of Al–Cu alloys for latent heat energy storage

Abstract

Current Al alloys still have shortcomings in their volumetric latent heat (LHV), compatibility and high-temperature inoxidizability, which limit their applications in the field of latent heat energy storage (LHES). The performance of aluminum alloys can be improved by the addition of Cu. The effects of the Cu content on the phase change temperature, mass latent heat (LHM), LHV, supercooling degree and microstructure of Al–Cu alloys were first studied by means of power-compensated differential scanning calorimetry, density, composition analysis and metallographic analysis. The measured values of the latent heat of Al–Cu alloys have been compared with the theoretically predicted values. The results show that for Al–Cu alloys with 7.3–52.8% Cu, the melting/freezing temperature is 540–655 °C/510–637 °C; the LHM and the LHV are 290–340 J g−1 and 877–1224 J cm−3, respectively; and the degree of supercooling is within 10 °C. The LHM and LHV of Al–Cu alloys decrease with the increase in the Cu content; when the content of Cu is over 16.6%, the difference between the theoretical value of the LHM and the measured average of the Al–Cu alloys is within 5%. The LHES phases in Al–Cu alloys are the α-Al and theta phases. Quantitative relationships of the Cu content and metallurgical microstructure with the LHM and LHV of Al–Cu alloys are established, and both theoretical and empirical equations are obtained for the estimation of the latent heat for Al–Cu alloys.