Preparation of Binary Thermal Silicone Grease and Its Application in Battery Thermal Management

To improve the problems of large interface thermal resistance and low heat dissipation efficiency in battery thermal management (BTM), this paper uses methyl silicone oil as the matrix, AIN, copper powder (CP), and carbon fiber (CF) as thermally conductive fillers, and acetone and stearic acid as particle surface modification components. A variety of binary thermal silicone greases (TSGs) with different compositions were prepared. Different instruments were used to test the material properties of TSGs, and a better TSG was selected to coat the interface between battery and phase change material (PCM) for battery charging and discharging experiments. Through the analysis of experimental data, it was found that among the TSGs made of three mixed fillers (AIN/CP, AIN/CF, CP/CF), the three TSGs had good thermal stability, and their thermal degradation temperature both exceeded 300 °C. As the ratio of thermally conductive filler was gradually changed from 5:1 to 1:5, the TSG containing CP/CF had higher thermal conductivity and lower volume resistivity, while the TSG containing AIN/CF had the least damage due to interface wear. The acidification treatment of thermally conductive filler can improve the adsorption and compatibility of thermally conductive particles and silicone oil, and reduce the oil separation rate of TSGs. The prepared expanded graphite (EG)/paraffin wax (PW) composite phase change material (CPCM) has a relatively large latent heat of phase change, which can effectively control the temperature of the battery, but coating TSG between the battery and the CPCM can further enhance the heat dissipation effect of the battery.