Al-Si-Mg-Cu Heat Storage Alloys and their Heat Storage Properties

Abstract

The problems such as poor oxidation resistant properties at high temperatures and abated thermal storage capacities after repeated thermal cycles still exist in heat storage alloys. In order to alleviate these problems, orthogonal experiment was used to design nine Al-Si-Mg-Cu alloys in this work. An SII TG/DTA6300 differential thermal analyzer was used to determine the heat storage properties of these alloys. After integrating a series of factors, Al-12Si-2Mg-15Cu alloy was selected as the heat storage alloy. The oxidation test of this alloy at the temperature of 650 °C for 300 h was carried out, and the oxidation kinetics curve was obtained. The results showed that the oxide film was of good protection. This alloy exhibited a good thermal stability in view of the latent heat of fusion decreased 3.53%, the initial phase transition temperature decreased 0.1 °C, and terminated phase transition temperature increased 3.1 °C after 150 times of thermal cycles. The photomicrograph was used to discuss the reasons of the performance changes of this alloy.