Engineering Commons^™

Evaluation Of The Transient Thermal Performance Of A Graphite Foam/Phase Change Material Composite, Michael Paul Trammell

Masters Theses

The thermal transient response of graphite foam infiltrated with paraffin wax as a thermal protection composite was investigated. Graphite foam is a rigid open-celled porous carbon material that exhibits high thermal conductivity along the ligaments. To increase the ability of graphite foam to store heat energy, it was infiltrated with a phase change material, paraffin wax. Filling the foam with a phase change material (PCM) creates a composite that transfers heat through an interconnected network of ligaments to a large surface area of PCM for absorption. Foams were made at various pressures to understand the effect of porosity, which also …