Form-stable phase change material based on fatty acid/wood flour composite and PVC used for thermal energy storage

• Published in: Energy and buildings 2020-02, Vol.209, p.109663, Article 109663
• Main Authors: Jingchen, Xing, Keyan, Yang, Yucheng, Zhou, Yuxiang, Yu, Jianmin, Chang, Liping, Cai, Sheldon, Shi Q.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accelerated tests; Building energy saving; Building materials; Buildings; Calorimetry; Chemical reactions; Construction materials; Cracks; Crystallization; Differential scanning calorimetry; Energy conservation; Energy storage; Eutectic composition; Eutectic reactions; Fatty acid; Fatty acids; Flour; Form-stable phase change material; Fourier analysis; Fourier transforms; Heat; Infrared spectroscopy; Latent heat; Mechanical properties; Organic chemistry; Palmitic acid; Phase change materials; Polymer matrix composites; Polyvinyl chloride; Scanning electron microscopy; Thermal cycling; Thermal cycling tests; Thermal energy; Thermal stability; Thermogravimetric analysis; Vacuum; Wood plastic composite
• ISSN: 0378-7788; 1872-6178
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109663

This work focused on a novel form-stable phase change material (FSPCM) for building energy saving. Capric acid (CA) and palmitic acid (PA) were selected to prepare binary eutectic. The CA-PA/wood flour (WF) composites with different mass ratios were prepared by the vacuum impregnation method. After the shape-stabilized properties were investigated, the results indicated that there were the good encapsulate capacity of WF to CA-PA eutectic and the slight effect of WF on the crystallization. Phase change wood plastic composites (WPCs) using CA-PA /WF composites as the latent heat storage medium and PVC as the matrix were prepared. The relations between mass ratios of CA-PA /WF composites and mechanical properties of WPCs were discussed. The results revealed that the WPCs with appropriate mass fraction of CA-PA eutectic had desired mechanical properties for practical applications. The prepared composites were examined by the scanning electron microscope (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and accelerated thermal cycling test. SEM images showed that the WPC prepared by the CA-PA /WF composite with the mass ratio of 0.4:1(WPC0.4) was more compact and uniform, but as the amount of CA-PA eutectic increased, more gaps and cracks appeared. DSC results showed that the WPC0.8 melted at 22.03 °C with a latent heat of 28.16 J/g and froze at 20.06 °C with a latent heat of 29.77 J/g, which was more applicable to the thermal energy storage systems for buildings. FTIR results demonstrated that there was no chemical reaction between CA-PA eutectic and components in WPC. The prepared FSPCM exhibited excellent thermal stability for the building materials from the TG analysis. Furthermore, the results of accelerated thermal cycling test showed that the composite had a good thermal reliability after 500 thermal cycles.