关键词: 泡沫金属, 复合相变材料, 高导热, 储能性能

Abstract: Phase change materials have shown broad application prospects in thermal management, photothermal conversion, and electrothermal energy storage. However, their generally low thermal conductivity and leakage issues during the solid-liquid phase transition have severely restricted their practical application effects. To overcome these bottlenecks, this work fabricated a vacuum impregnation process, using paraffin as the phase change functional medium, metal foam as the porous support skeleton, and thermal conductivity enhancement structure to prepare high thermal conductivity composite phase change materials. The thermal conductivity and latent heat of phase change of the composite materials were systematically characterized by a laser thermal conductivity meter and a differential scanning calorimeter, respectively, to evaluate their comprehensive heat storage capacity. The research results showed that the introduction of the three-dimensional continuous network structure of copper foam not only constructed an efficient thermal conduction path, significantly enhancing the thermal conductivity of the material, but also effectively restrained the liquid paraffin by means of its pore capillary force and surface tension, preventing liquid leakage. Among them, the copper foam composite phase change material with a pore size of 10 PPI exhibited the best thermal conductivity, with a thermal conductivity as high as 8.747 W/(m?K), which was more than 46 times higher than that of pure paraffin [0.190 W/(m?K)], demonstrating an outstanding thermal conductivity enhancement effect. In practical application scenario tests, this composite phase change material shows excellent thermal regulation and energy storage performance in thermal management, photothermal, and electrothermal systems, with good engineering applicability and significant economic and environmental benefits.

Key words: metal foam, composite phase change material, high thermal conductivity, energy storage performance