Mark Copus¹; ¹The University of Newcastle, Australia

Miscibility Gap Alloys (MGA) are a new latent heat Thermal Energy Storage (TES) material. As the name suggests, MGA take advantage of a miscibility gap between two elements or compounds, often metals or semi-metals, which are manufactured using various powder metallurgy techniques. MGA encapsulate a distributed fusible metallic phase while remaining a high thermal conductivity, macroscopically solid block, with high energy density. The result is a safe and effective method of thermal energy storage and delivery. The combination of these characteristics results in these materials being ideal for thermal storage.This paper presents the concept and manufacture method used to create MGA, and outlines an application as a solar receiver in a concentrated solar power dish.