Elastocaloric effects of carbon fabric-reinforced shape memory polymer composites

Abstract

The applications of the elastocaloric cooling effect (eCE) of shape memory poly(cyclooctene) (PCO) to portable cold-storage devices at high temperatures have been demonstrated. These applications arise due to its good shape fixation properties upon cold-drawing. In this paper, we report that carbon fabric-reinforced PCO composites exhibit enhanced eCE compared to pure PCO due to the increased elasticity and Clausius-Clapeyron factor by carbon fabric reinforcement. The elastocaloric heating and cooling effects of PCO-based shape memory polymer composites (PCO-SMPCs) were characterized and predicted using a constitutive equation of woven fabric-reinforced SMPC and their eCE was analyzed in terms of thermodynamic parameters. Good agreement between experiments and simulations was obtained, showing that 3D finite element analysis can facilitates the design of surface adaptable solid-state coolers fabricated from PCO-SMPC with good efficiency and portability properties.