Experimental investigation on the supercooling and heat conduction of sodium acetate trihydrate/copper foam/YSZ composite phase change material

In this study, yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) was firstly used as a nucleating agent and copper foam as the matrix to simultaneously reduce the supercooling degree and improve the thermal conductivity of sodium acetate trihydrate (SAT). The SAT/copper foam/YSZ composite phase change material (PCM) was prepared by ball milling and melting impregnation method. The influences of content of YSZ on supercooling degree of SAT and porosity of copper foam on thermal conductivity of SAT were studied experimentally. The step-cooling curve method results indicated that the supercooling of SAT can be eliminated by 0.8 mass% YSZ without any chemical interaction between SAT and YSZ. The thermal conductivity test and heat transfer test results of SAT/copper foam/YSZ composite PCM indicated that copper foam increases the thermal conductivity of SAT. The thermal conductivity of SAT/copper foam/YSZ composite PCM was 5.9, 6.9 and 9.4 times as that of pure SAT when the porosity of copper foam was 8 ppi, 15 ppi and 40 ppi. Moreover, the volume energy storage density of SAT/copper foam/YSZ composite PCMs was calculated as 448.6–473.0 MJ m−3, which was 2.09–2.20 times as that of water.