Thermal Properties and Reliability of a Lauric Acid/Nonanoic Acid Binary Mixture as a Phase-Change Material for Thermal Energy Storage

The thermal properties of a binary system composed of lauric acid (LA) and nonanoic acid (NA) and its binary phase diagram were studied. To put this binary system into practice, the mixture containing 96wt% of LA was selected, which has a phase-change temperature of 41 degrees C and a latent heat of 163Jg(-1), which is suitable for a domestic water heating application. Additionally, its thermal and chemical structure stability, thermal conductivity, degree of supercooling, and thermal reliability were investigated by using thermogravimetric analysis, FTIR spectroscopy, thermal conductivity analysis, the T-history method, and an accelerated thermal cycle test for 1000 melt/freeze cycles, respectively. The results of these tests indicated that the mixture has a remarkable thermal stability, a good chemical structure stability, no supercooling, and an excellent thermal reliability. Therefore, the mixture can be a potential phase-change material for thermal energy storage.