Systematic Melting Point Adjustment For Certain Salt Hydrates

摘要

In recent years, the latent storage community presented hundreds of novel phase change materials (PCM, puresubstances and mixtures) usable for various applications. Enthalpies of fusion and melting points are two majorthermophysical properties needed when deciding whether a PCM is suitable for a specific application.Oftentimes, a promising PCM for an application must be rejected because its melting point is deviating fromthe ideal melting point (MP) by a few degrees Celsius. Even though the basic principle of using additives toachieve melting point depression has been known since many years, it has been rarely applied to manipulatethe MP of promising PCMs.This study reports preliminary experiments conducted on tampering with melting points of specific, promisingsalt-based PCMs. Finding a systematic pathway to influence the melting point of salt hydrates using mixturesor additives could revolutionize the discovery of new and suitable PCMs for specific applications.