Multifunctional polymer composites for thermal energy storage- current trends and future perspectives
Abstract
Thermal energy storage (TES) involves storing heat for later use, reducing the gap between energy availability and demand. Among the TES technologies, LH-TES is advantageous as it stores and releases a large amount of heat at a constant temperature, making it suitable for thermal management applications. The most common materials for LH-TES are organic solid-liquid phase change materials (PCMs), but they have low thermal conductivity and need encapsulation to avoid leakage above the melting temperature. Encapsulation in micrometric shells is the most effective method and also increases thermal stability, facilitates handling, and accommodates volume variation during phase change. Multifunctional materials, such as polymer-matrix composites, that combine good mechanical properties and heat storage-management function can be used to reduce weight and volume in TES applications. These composites can be attractive in transportation and portable electronics fields, increasing thermal resistance of composites and producing smart de-icing coatings that release heat and generate local stresses to promote ice detachment. The research plan aims to expand the knowledge of structural TES composites by investigating the production of sandwich panels with TES capability and tailoring the properties of the PCM phase. The first activity involves producing and characterizing sandwich composites with TES capability, where rigid polyurethane (PU) foams and epoxy-based syntactic foams enriched with microencapsulated PCMs can be suitable as the core of sandwich panels. The thermomechanical properties of these types of foams within a certain range of composition will be used to guide the choice of the most suitable foams for the production of sandwich panels by embedding such foams in continuous-fiber-laminates skins. The second activity involves optimizing the properties of the PCM microcapsules, such as phase change enthalpy, capsule size, mechanical strength of the shell, and surface reactivity, to increase the properties of the resulting multifunctional TES composites. The production of more complex, multifunctional shells-coatings with improved mechanical and functional properties could enhance the mechanical performance of the resulting composite.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 22, 2024
- Source ID
- FA86552317039
Entities
People
- Alessandro Pegoretti
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Trento