Thermal conductivity measurements of a phase change material slurry under the influence of phase change

Abstract

Phase change material slurry is widely used in such applications as thermal energy storage and thermal management. Thermal conductivity of phase change material slurry is one of the most important thermo-physical properties that are necessary for system design and performance evaluation. In the present study, thermal conductivity of a phase change material slurry, tetra-n-butylammonium bromide (TBAB) clathrate hydrate slurry (CHS), is experimentally measured by using transient hot-wire method. The theoretical model of thermal conductivity measurement of phase change material slurry under the influence of phase change is proposed and numerically analyzed to obtain real thermal conductivity. It is found that phase change significantly affects the measurement of thermal conductivity in that the real thermal conductivity is smaller than that obtained directly from the experiments because phase change enhances heat transfer during the measurement. The smaller the solid fraction of TBAB CHS, the larger the influence of phase change on thermal conductivity is. Such effect is apparently ubiquitous, which should also be taken into consideration in thermal conductivity measurement of other phase change material slurries.