Selective laser sintering of phase change composites for thermal management systems

Abstract

Phase change composites have great application potential in the thermal management system because of their high latent heat and high thermal conductivity. However, the problems of the complex manufacturing process and waste of materials in the processing process have prevented composite phase change materials from further application in industry. In this paper, the composite phase change materials powder was prepared by liquid nitrogen grinding method, and the parameters such as thermal conductivity, latent heat capacity, powder flowability, particle size distribution and microstructure were tested. The results show that the parameters of composite phase change materials powder meet the requirements of selective laser sintering. Finally, composite phase change materials parts are successfully printed by selective laser sintering machine, thus it simplifies the manufacturing process, reduces the waste of materials, and expands the manufacturing mode of composite phase change materials.