Thermally Conductive Polyethylene/Expanded Graphite Composites as Heat Transfer Surface: Mechanical, Thermo-Physical and Surface Behavior - Université Paris-Est-Créteil-Val-de-Marne
Journal Articles Polymers Year : 2020

Thermally Conductive Polyethylene/Expanded Graphite Composites as Heat Transfer Surface: Mechanical, Thermo-Physical and Surface Behavior

Patrik Sobolčiak
  • Function : Author
Asma Abdulgader
  • Function : Author
Miroslav Mrlik
Anton Popelka
  • Function : Author
Ahmed A. Abdala
  • Function : Author
Abdelnasser A. Aboukhlewa
  • Function : Author
Hendrik Kiepfer
Hans-Jörg Bart
  • Function : Author
Igor Krupa
  • Function : Author

Abstract

Composites of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and expanded graphite (EG) are prepared for heat exchangers in multi-effect distillation (MED) desalination. At 50 wt.% EG loading, the thermal conductivity of HDPE was increased by 372%. Moreover, the surface wettability of the HDPE/EG composite was enhanced by corona and RF plasma treatment as demonstrated by the increase in surface free energy from 28.5 mJ/m2 for untreated HDPE/EG to 55.5 and 54.5 mJ/m2 for HDPE/EG treated by corona and RF plasma, respectively. This enhanced surface wettability was retained over a long time with only a 9% and 18% decrease in RF and corona plasma-treated samples’ surface energy after two months. The viscoelastic moduli and the complex viscosity profiles indicated that EG content dictates the optimum processing technique. At loading below 30 wt.%, the extrusion process is preferred, while above 30 wt.% loading, injection molding is preferred. The plasma treatment also improved the HDPE/EG composite overall heat transfer coefficient with an overall heat transfer coefficient of the composite reaching about 98% that of stainless steel. Moreover, the plasma-treated composite exhibited superior resistance to crystallization fouling in both CaSO4 solution and artificial seawater compared to untreated composites and stainless-steel surfaces.
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Dates and versions

hal-04316580 , version 1 (05-04-2024)

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Patrik Sobolčiak, Asma Abdulgader, Miroslav Mrlik, Anton Popelka, Ahmed A. Abdala, et al.. Thermally Conductive Polyethylene/Expanded Graphite Composites as Heat Transfer Surface: Mechanical, Thermo-Physical and Surface Behavior. Polymers, 2020, 12 (12), pp.2863. ⟨10.3390/polym12122863⟩. ⟨hal-04316580⟩

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