Experimental investigation of thermo-physical properties of n-octadecane and n-eicosane

Abstract Reliable knowledge of phase change materials (PCM) thermo-physical properties is essential to model and design latent thermal energy storage (LTES) systems. This study aims to conduct a methodological measurement of thermo-physical properties, including latent enthalpy, isobaric specific heat, thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity, of two n-alkanes, n-octadecane and n-eicosane. The enthalpy and isobaric specific heat of the materials are measured via differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique, using a µDSC evo7 from Setaram Instrumentation with a sample mass of 628.4 mg. The influence of the scanning rates, varying from 0.5 K/min to 0.025 K/min, in dynamic continuous mode within temperature range of 10–65 °C is investigated. The thermal conductivity and the dynamic viscosity are measured via Hot Disk TPS-2500S instrument and Brookfield rotational viscometer, respectively, up to 70 °C. The thermal analysis results via the µDSC show that the isothermal condition can be approached at a very low scanning rate, however at the cost of a higher noise level. A trade-off is observed for n-octadecane, achieving the lowest deviation of 0.7% in latent heat measurement at 0.05 K/min, as compared to the American Petroleum Table values. For n-eicosane, the lowest deviation of 1.2% is seen at the lowest scanning rate of 0.025 K/min. The thermal conductivity measured values show good agreements with a number of documented literature studies in the solid phase, within deviations of 2%. Larger deviations of 5–16% are found for the measurement in the liquid phase. The viscosity values also show a good agreement with the literature values with maximum deviations of 2.9% and 6.3%, with respect to the values of American Petroleum Tables, for n-octadecane and n-eicosane, respectively. The good agreements achieved in measurements establish the reliable thermo-physical properties contributing to the future simulations and designs.