Study on performance of adipic acid/expanded graphite composite phase change materials

Adipic acid as phase change materials, expanded graphite as the heat conduction reinforcement, adipic acid/expanded graphite composite phase change thermal storage material was prepared by mechanical mixing and melted adsorption method. The structure and properties of composite were investigated by FT-IR, DSC, thermal constants analyzer, TG, FE-SEM and thermal cycling tests. The results show that, adipic acid can be absorbed into the expanded graphite effectively, and exhibits good compatibility with expanded graphite. With the increase of expanded graphite content, the latent has a declining trend, while thermal conductivity was a corresponding increase of composite phase change materials. Adipic acid/8wt% expanded graphite composite phase change materials melting/solidification enthalpy was 273.66/220.49 J/g in melting/freezing process respectively, and thermal conductivity was 2.99 W/(m·K). It has a good thermal stability of composite phase change materials.