Online proceedings - EDA Publishing Association
Online proceedings - EDA Publishing Association
Online proceedings - EDA Publishing Association
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7-9 October 2009, Leuven, Belgium<br />
Carbon Nanotube Enhanced Thermally Conductive<br />
Phase Change Material For Heat Dissipation<br />
Xinhe Tang, Ernst Hammel and Werner Reiter<br />
Electrovac AG<br />
Aufeldgasse 37-39<br />
3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria<br />
Tel: 0043-2243-450405, Fax: 0043-2243-450315, tan@electrovac.com , www.electrovac.com<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
Carbon nanotube enhanced thermally conductive phase<br />
change material for heat dissipation has been studied in the<br />
present paper. It was indicated that the thermal resistance was<br />
greatly reduced by incorporating multi-walled carbon<br />
nanotubes into the organic matrix. The uniform distribution of<br />
carbon nanotubes has been realized by optimizing the<br />
dispersion parameters like temperature, shear strength, rolling<br />
speed and gap of rollers. New phase change materials have<br />
been developed and the thermal performance has been<br />
evaluated. The further work relating to physical and<br />
mechanical properties and application in heat dissipation is<br />
being undertaken.<br />
Key words: carbon nanotubes, nanofiller enhanced phase<br />
change material, thermal performance, thermal resistance<br />
I. INTRODUCTION<br />
An organic phase change material (PCM) shows thermal<br />
storage capacity due to its latent heat of transformation, but its<br />
application in thermal management is limited owing to its low<br />
thermal conductivity. It is expected that embedding a thermally<br />
conductive nanofiller in the PCM matrix can either increase the<br />
thermal conductivity of the composite or decrease the thermal<br />
resistance, and therefore reduce the junction temperature of the<br />
components.<br />
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess high thermal conductivity<br />
in the axis direction. An individual multi-walled carbon<br />
nanotube (MWCNT) can be as high as 3000 W/mK in thermal<br />
conductivity [1]. The CNTs with their outstanding conductivity<br />
have a great potential to be employed in PCM for heat<br />
dissipation. It is believed that the high inherent thermal<br />
conductivity of CNTs significantly enhances the thermal<br />
conductivity of the PCM. It was indicated that the thermal<br />
grease made from carbon nanofibers (CNF) showed low<br />
thermal resistance in the previous work [2-3]. It has been<br />
reported that CNT arrays lead to a minimum thermal<br />
resistance of 19.8 Kmm 2 /W, while the combination of the CNT<br />
arrays with phase change material results in much lower<br />
resistance of 5.2 Kmm 2 /W [4]. The dispersion and the<br />
formation of a network of CNTs in the matrix, the loading<br />
grade of the fillers, the manufacture process and even the<br />
properties of the matrix itself exert an important influence on<br />
the thermal performance of the PCM.<br />
The objective of this work is to develop nanofiller enhanced<br />
phase change material by finding out desirable compositions<br />
where CNTs and matrix may well be incorporated, and by<br />
optimizing dispersing parameters to generate minimum thermal<br />
barriers between nanofillers and matrix and to realize a<br />
maximum thermal conductivity of the phase change material.<br />
In the present work following activities have been involved in<br />
developing CNTs enhanced PCM:<br />
• Selection of PCM matrices and filler materials;<br />
• Pre-treatment of carbon nanotubes;<br />
• Optimization of dispersion parameters;<br />
• Optimization of loading grade of CNTs;<br />
• Evaluation of CNTs distribution in PCM;<br />
• Measurment of the thermal resistance of the PCM;<br />
• Comparison of the enhancement over the matrix;<br />
II. EXPERIMENTAL<br />
1. Selection of carbon nanofibers as filler<br />
It has been reported that the thermal grease made from heattreated<br />
carbon nanofibers showed lower thermal resistance than<br />
any other non-treated CNF and CNT[2]. A multi-walled carbon<br />
nanotube was treated at high temperature and used as the filler<br />
to enhance the thermal performance. Fig. 1 shows the SEM<br />
morphology of this filler material. As many nanoparticles, the<br />
carbon nanotubes are also strongly agglomerated, which shows<br />
the difficulty to be well dispersed into the organic matrix.<br />
Fig. 1: SEM morphology of multi-walled carbon nanotube<br />
2. Selection of organic phase change material<br />
The following properties have been taken into account to<br />
select organic PCM:<br />
©<strong>EDA</strong> <strong>Publishing</strong>/THERMINIC 2009 216<br />
ISBN: 978-2-35500-010-2