Thermal conductivity of solid paraffins and several n-docosane compounds with graphite

Abstract The technical importance of paraffins as phase change materials (PCM) in heat storage systems increases. Knowledge on the thermal conductivity is necessary for design and optimization systems. However, most solely liquid state has been sufficiently investigated. For solid state, precise data are only known a few paraffins, while generalized values available remainder, some which contradict each other. In this study, measurement setup based modified guarded hot plate method developed. It used to investigate several paraffines including pure n-docosane its compounds with different types concentrations graphite. determined be 0.49 W m −1 K . A particle size 200 μm spherical shape turns out optimal increase conductivity. This allows compound 10% graphite by factor three compared paraffin. Furthermore, significant differences from literature found.