Preparation and Thermal Management of Expanded Graphite/Paraffin Composite for Li-ion Battery

Abstract

A series of expanded graphite (EG)/paraffin composites with various EG contents were prepared for Li-ion battery thermal management, in which paraffin was chosen as PCM and EG as the promoter of thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity of the samples was measured by a thermal conductivity analyzer based on the transient hot wire method.The effect of EG content in composite on Li-ion battery thermal management was investigated. The thermal management performance of EG/PCM composites with different thermal conductivity was also discussed by software ANSYS. The results show that:EG incorporation dramatically enhances the thermal conductivity of PCM;the thermal conductivity of EG/PCM shows anisotropy, with EG content equaling to or exceeding 9%; The temperature of Li-ion battery surface decreases with an increase in EG content of composite, EG(12)/PCM(88) exhibits excellent thermal management for Li-ion battery.To adequately increase the thermal conductivity of EG/PCM in radial direction is beneficial to improve Li-ion battery thermal management.

Keywords

• phase change material
• expanded graphite
• thermal conductivity
• thermal management
• Li-ion battery