Fatty acid esters-based composite phase change materials for thermal energy storage in buildings

In this study, fatty acid esters-based composite phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage were prepared by blending erythritol tetrapalmitate (ETP) and erythritol tetrastearate (ETS) with diatomite and expanded perlite (EP). The maximum incorporation percentage for ETP and ETS into diatomite and EP was found to be 57 wt% and 62 wt%, respectively without melted PCM seepage from the composites. The morphologies and compatibilities of the composite PCMs were structurally characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transformation infrared (FT–IR) analysis techniques. Thermal energy storage properties of the composite PCMs were determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The DSC analyses results indicated that the composite PCMs were good candidates for building applications in terms of their large latent heat values and suitable phase change temperatures. The thermal cycling test including 1000 melting and freezing cycling showed that composite PCMs had good thermal reliability and chemical stability. TG analysis revealed that the composite PCMs had good thermal durability above their working temperature ranges. Moreover, in order to improve the thermal conductivity of the composite PCMs, the expanded graphite (EG) was added to them at different mass fractions (2%, 5%, and 10%). The best results were obtained for the composite PCMs including 5wt% EG content in terms of the increase in thermal conductivity values and the decrease amount in latent heat capacity. The improvement in thermal conductivity values of ETP/Diatomite, ETS/Diatomite, ETP/EP and ETS/EP were found to be about 68%, 57%, 73% and 75%, respectively.

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► Fatty acid esters-based composite PCMs were prepared by blending ETP and ETS with diatomite and expanded perlite.
► The composite PCMs were characterized by using SEM, FT–IR, DSC and TG analysis methods.
► The DSC results indicated that the composites PCMs had good thermal energy storage properties.
► TG analysis revealed that they had good thermal durability above their working temperature ranges.