Enhancing the thermal transport property of eutectic lauric-stearic acid based phase change material with silicon carbide nanoparticles for usage in battery thermal management system

The use of phase change materials (PCM) for improving the thermal dissipation of Lithium-ion phosphate (LiFePO4) battery is studied in the past. However, the poor thermal conductivity of PCM can show ineffective heat removal from the battery and thereby subjecting them to damage. In this work, a novel composite phase change material was developed where organic fatty acids such as Lauric acid (LA) and stearic acid (SA) are used to form the eutectic PCM mixture. In addition, the thermal conductivity and thermal stability of eutectic LA-SA PCM were improved by suspending nano silicon-carbide (SiC) particles to form a composite PCM. The specimen series investigated as a part of this work includes (a) eutectic LA-SA PCM, (b) PCM with 0.025 vol.% of SiC, (c) PCM with 0.050 vol% of SiC and (d) PCM with 0.075 vol% of SiC. The microstructural features and surface morphology of the developed PCMs were understood using FESEM/EDS analysis, AFM analysis, XRD and FT-IR spectroscopy. Moreover, the thermal characteristics of composite PCM were studied using thermal stability analysis (TGA), thermal conductivity and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. Results from the micro-structural characterization reveal the increase in effective surface area and uniform dispersion due to the addition of SiC nanoparticles. Moreover, the thermal conductivity of the composite PCM with 0.075 vol% SiC was improved by 75.8 % when compared to eutectic LA-SA based PCM. Hence, the use of nano-SiC loaded composite PCM will be ideal for enhancing the thermal transport property of Lithium-ion batteries for BTMS.