Preparation and performance study of cordierite/mullite composite ceramics for solar thermal energy storage

Abstract

The employment of solar energy in recent years has reached a remarkable edge. It has become even more popular as the cost of fossil fuel continues to rise. Energy storage system improves an adjustability and marketability of solar thermal and allowing it to produce electricity in demand. This study attempted to prepare cordierite/mullite composite ceramics used as solar thermal storage material from calcined bauxite, talcum, soda feldspar, potassium feldspar, quartz, and mullite. The thermal physical performances were evaluated and characterized by XRD, SEM, EPMA, and EDS. It was found that the optimum sintering temperature was 1280°C for preparing, and the corresponding water adsorption was 11.25%, apparent porosity was 23.59%, bulk density was 2.10 mg·cm−3, bending strength was 88.52 MPa. The residual bending strength of specimen sintered at 1280°C after thermal shock of 30 times decreased to be 57 MPa that was 36% lower than that before. The thermal conductivity of samples sintered at 1280°C was tested to be 2.20 W·(m·K)−1 (26°C), and after wrapped a PCM (phase change materials) of K2SO4, the thermal storage density was 933 kJ·kg−1 with the temperature difference (ΔT) ranged in 0‐800°C. The prepared cordierite/mullite composite ceramic was proved to be a promising material for solar thermal energy storage.

Sintering and final properties of kaolinite‐magnesite tapes for the manufacture of cordierite‐mullite ceramics

“…Mullite and cordierite were found in both samples after increasing the soaking time as presented on Figure 8A,B. The samples studied in the present paper appeared to exhibit enhanced mechanical properties that could be justified by the shaping route used in comparison with the other similar cordierite/mullite samples found in literature 53,54 . Table 3 summarized some comparative points between our samples and those elaborated by two different authors 53,54 .…”

In situ synthesis and thermal shock resistance of a cordierite‐mullite composite for solar thermal storage

“…As shown in Figure , the diffraction peaks of cordierite increase gradually which proves that the content of cordierite increased during synthesis. The transformation process can be described as follows: …”

Mullite Stabilized Palmitic Acid as Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy Storage

“…The PA/mullite FSPCM were prepared via direct impregnation method [13,29]. PA can be absorbed into the interlayer spacing [10,18] due to the developed interlayer spacing in the porous mullite [25,26]. In order to increase its porosity of supporting material, the mullite was preprocessed at 105 • C for 12 h in the baking oven for dehydration before the fabrication of PA/mullite FSPCM.…”

“…Therefore, mullite could be a quite great candidate for the supporting material of PCM. However, there are only a few scholars who have researched the mullite-based FSPCM in the literature [24][25][26].…”