Evaluation of methods to fully saturate carbon foam with paraffin wax phase change material for energy storage

In this work, the effect of infiltration method on the saturation rate of paraffin phase change material within graphite foams is experimentally investigated. Graphite foams infiltrated with paraffin have been found to be effective for energy storage, but it is difficult to completely saturate the foam with paraffin. In this work, two methods are used to infiltrate the foam: a simple submersion technique and a vacuum infiltration technique. The effect of the infiltration method on the paraffin saturation rate is found to be significant with the vacuum system yielding better results.