Thermal transport properties of carbon-assisted phase change nanocomposite
Sung Chul Kim, Rajendran Prabakaran, D. Sakthivadivel, N. Thangapandian, Arpit Bhatia, P. Ganesh Kumar
Abstract
In this study, stability, density, rheology, and thermal conductivity of the Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based PCM nanocomposites were experimentally investigated. The PCM OM08 has been selected for the air-conditioning application with a phase change temperature of 8–10 °C. PCM nanocomposites (without surfactant) in various concentrations namely 0.05, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 vol. % were prepared using a typical two-step method and high homogenous stability is achieved using a mechanical mixing technique (ultra-sonication). The density of PCM nanocomposites was measured using two different types of standard volumetric flask approach and the experimental values confirmed good conformity with the Pak and Cho mixing theory. The highest thermal conductivity augmentation of 24.03%and 64.04% were achieved in liquid and solid states, respectively, with 0.5 vol. % of MWCNT. While, the addition of MWCNT resulted in a changeover of Newtonian to Non-Newtonian behaviors at a low shear rate, and the dynamic viscosity enhancement was increased by 130% with 0.5 vol. % of MWCNT. Further, the results were compared with existing correlations and it was found that the experimental values were in line with existing correlations.