The application of phase-change materials (PCM) for thermal-energy storage is hampered by their low thermal conductivity. Copper particles (CP) and copper foam (CF) were used to enhance the thermal conductivity of a microencapsulated phase-change material (MicroPCM). The effects of the CP size and mass fraction and the pore number per inch (PPI) of the CF on the thermal properties of the MicroPCM were investigated. The chemical and microstructures of the MicroPCM and its CP composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Their thermal conductivities, phase-change temperatures, and latent heats were measured. Adding CP into the MicroPCM decreased the latent heats with increasing loadings. The thermal conductivities of MicroPCM/CP (5 wt%, 50 nm diameter) and MicroPCM/CF (PPI 30) were 1.12 times and 3.46 times that of the unmodified MicroPCM at 20 °C, respectively. Thermal-energy storage performances of the MicroPCM/CF composites were studied at a power of 2.9 ± 0.1 W. The temperature of the contact surfaces of the pure MicroPCM and its composites (PPI 10, PPI 20, PPI 30) was 75.88, 51.27, 50.52, and 50.23 °C, respectively. The composites displayed more uniform temperature distributions.

相变材料（PCM）的低导热性阻碍了其在热能存储中的应用。铜粒子（CP）和铜泡沫（CF）用于增强微囊化相变材料（MicroPCM）的导热性。研究了CP尺寸和质量分数以及CF的每英寸孔数（PPI）对MicroPCM热性能的影响。MicroPCM及其CP复合材料的化学和微观结构分别通过傅里叶变换红外光谱和扫描电子显微镜进行了表征。测量了它们的热导率，相变温度和潜热。随着CP的增加，CP的潜热随着负载的增加而降低。MicroPCM / CP的热导率（5 wt％，直径为50 nm）和MicroPCM / CF（PPI 30）在20°C时分别为未改性MicroPCM的1.12倍和3.46倍。在2.9±0.1 W的功率下研究了MicroPCM / CF复合材料的储热性能。纯MicroPCM及其复合材料（PPI 10，PPI 20，PPI 30）的接触表面温度分别为75.88、51.27， 50.52和50.23°C。复合材料显示出更均匀的温度分布。