Prediction of melting temperature and latent heat for low-melting metal PCMs

Models are presented for predicting the melting point and the latent heat of low-melting alloys to facilitate the design of phase change materials (PCMs). Based on the characteristics of entropy and enthalpy during the transition of material phase, the prediction models of melting point and latent heat for eutectic binary system were established at first, and then the models were extended into multicomponent system. Calculated melting points and latent heats of 15 selected low-melting alloys were compared with measurement results using DSC, and it is found that there exists a good agreement between the prediction and the experimental data. A criterion for preparation of metallic PCMs was also proposed. In order to obtain a higher latent heat alloys, an element with higher latent heat should be selected as component of the alloy, and the mole fraction of the element should be increased. The advantage of the models proposed is that the melting point and the latent heat of a certain PCM can be predicted mathematically, avoiding many experiments needed in conventional ways.