Optimization of thermal conductivity of phase change materials/graphene by using taguchi method

Despite the extensive research on phase change materials, studies of different phase change materials (PCM) systems are still lacking due to the complexity of the mixture properties. The objective of this study is to use the Taguchi Method to predict the optimum parameters that give the highest thermal conductivity. This study considers the effects of four factors, the PCM, weight of graphene. mixing speed, and mixing time, on the thermal conductivity, compares the thermal pertbrmance of the optimum samples by adding silicon oil and mineral oil. The Analysis of Mean (ANOM) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA ) shows that the graphene weight and type of wax are the most influential factor determining the thermal conductivity, with a contribution percentage of 60% and 31% . respectively. The thermal conductivity increases proportionally with the weight percentage of graphene (GR). This study achieves the optimum results when using paraffin wax and 5 wt% of graphene; however, mixing titne and speed do not contribute significantly to increasing thermal conductivity. The confirmation experiment of thermal conductivity shows better performance than the thennal conductivity predicted results by the Taguchi Method. The PCM added with silicone oil and graphene enhanced thermal conductivity. This study contributes to the knowledge of PCM thermal conductivity optimization via various parameters and encourages a continuous effort to develop PCM as thermal energy storage.