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

摘要： 相变材料在热管理、光热转换及电热储能等领域展现出广阔的应用前景。然而，相变材料普遍存在的低导热性能和相变过程中的泄漏问题，严重限制了其实际应用效果。为克服上述瓶颈，本工作采用膨胀石墨和泡沫金属分级封装相变材料，构建三维高导热强化结构，利用激光导热仪、差示扫描量热仪分别对复合材料的导热性能与相变潜热进行系统表征，以评估其综合储热能力。研究结果表明，膨胀石墨的孔隙毛细作用力与表面张力，有效束缚液态石蜡，防止其泄漏。泡沫金属三维连续网络结构的引入，构建了高效的热传导通路，显著提升了复合材料的导热性能。其中，具有10 PPI孔径的泡沫铜复合相变材料表现出最优的导热性能，导热系数高达8.747 W/(m?K)，相较于纯石蜡的0.190 W/(m?K)，提升约46倍，显示出卓越的热传导增强效果。在实际应用场景测试中，该复合相变材料在热管理、光热及电热系统中均表现出优异的热调控与储能性能，具备良好的工程适用性。

关键词: 泡沫金属, 复合相变材料, 高导热, 储能性能