Investigation of the Effect of Diamond Powder on the Thermal Properties of Octadecane Using Differential Scanning Calorimetry

The purpose of this work was to examine the effect of diamond powder on the thermal properties of phase change materials on the example of octadecane. The experiment involved mixing of diamond powder with a specific granulation with the aforementioned representative of the alkanes group. Two different grain sizes were used: 50 and 250 micrometres. The change of specific heat, latent heat of phase change and degree of supercoiling in newly formed mixtures was compared to the pure forms of the phase-change materials used. Initial mixing with a glass-stirring rod showed strong stratification for each granulation due to the low viscosity of the mixture and too large differences between component densities. It was decided to add amorphous silicon dioxide to the mixtures, which increases density of the mixture. The optimal percentage of amorphous silicon dioxide was estimated experimentally. Measurements of thermal parameters were carried out using DSC technology. The results of the tests of specific heat and latent phase transition heat showed that with the increasing content of diamond, the specific heat of the mixture decreases almost twice, and the latent heat can decrease by up to three times. The effect of diamond powder on reducing the degree of supercoiling of the mixture was also observed. An important observation was that the mixture with higher granulation of diamond powder had greater tendency for sedimentation. This method could be used to increase thermal conductivity and diffusivity of phase change materials and make them viable for use in systems that require cooling at high rate or temperature stabilization, such as control systems in electronic vehicles or aviation industry and at the same time decrease the degree of supercoiling which could increase the efficiency of system.