Thermal properties of phase change material microcapsules modified coatings

Abstract

The use of phase change materials (PCMs) for energy storage has received great attention in recent years and microencapsulation of phase change materials has been widely applied in various industries. Encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) consist of an encapsulated core substance with a high latent heat of fusion. One of the possible applications of encapsulated phase change material is acting as a de-icing agent.

This project will be exploring the thermal properties of encapsulated phase change materials modified coatings. Microcapsules are prepared in a well developed procedure and the size and quality of the microcapsules are determined by SEM and TGA. An optimised 1200rpm is used to prepare the epoxy coating because of its size and quality.

The epoxy coating sample is then tested for thermal conductivity. The experimental result shows that that the increase in concentration of PCM microcapsule results in the decrease in thermal conductivity. Although the relationship between thermal conductivity and thickness cannot be established due to experimental errors, more accurate tests can be carried out for future work.