Leveraging Metal Matrix Composites for Thermal Energy Storage

CPS Technologies Corp. (CPS) will fabricate a novel metal matrix composite (MMC) consisting of an aluminum (Al) alloy matrix reinforced with nitinol (NiTi) shape memory alloy. CPS will utilize proprietary MMC fabrication techniques to fabricate the Al-NiTi material. NiTi will act as a phase change material (PCM) to store thermal energy, while the Al matrix will provide light weighting and increase the bulk thermal conductivity for heat transport to and away from the encapsulated NiTi. During heating, an endothermic reaction will take place as Nitinol undergoes a solid-to-solid phase transformation. During cooling, an exothermic reaction will occur as the phase transformation reverses. NiTi is typically used in applications that exploit this phase change to recover component strain/shape after deformation. CPS will leverage the same properties to use Al-NiTi composites as phase PCMs for thermal energy storage. The resulting composites will decrease the overall footprint of current Al-Wax designs by over 50% in Naval applications. During Phase I, we will design, fabricate, and test Al-NiTi composites. Thermal properties will be integrated into a comprehensive model to design and optimize compact thermal energy storage devices for Naval applications. We will transition to Phase II by iterating on the work to increase overall thermal storage efficiency.