Microencapsulated Phase Change Materials and Its Application in Thermal-Regulated Fibers

摘要

The phase change materials (PCMs) can absorb, store or release large latent heat over a defined temperature range while the materials change phase or state, so they can be potentially used in thermal energy storage. In this paper, a series of microencapsulated phase change materials (MicroPCMs) with K-octadecane and K-dodecanol as core were successfully fabricated respectively, where the styrene-based copolymer, acrylic based copolymer, melamine-formaldehyde resin and polyurea were selected as shell materials. The morphology of these MicroPCMs was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the core-shell structure and the shell thickness of microcapsules were also characterized by SEM. In addition, the phase change properties of MicroPCMs were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. Furthermore, thermal-regulated calcium alginate fiber was produced by adding MicroPCMs in wet-spinning process;;and the effects of various types of MicroPCMs on fiber was discussed.