Research Progress of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) Embedded with Metal Foam (a Review)

Latent heat storage using phase change materials (PCMs) attract more and more attention in recent years. But most of the PCMs present low thermal conductivity, which decrease the heat transfer rate and leads to low energy utilization efficiency of the storage system. Metal foam with high thermal conductivity, porosity, surface-area to volume ratio and strong mixing capability is considered as one of the most promising heat transfer enhancement materials. In this paper, the kinds of metal foam used in PCMs and the efficient thermal conductivity and convection heat transfer of the composite PCMs are reviewed. The research methods used in the investigation of conductive, convective and phase change heat transfer process in composite PCMs are also reviewed.