Preparation And Characterization Of Form-Stabilized Paraffin/Polycaprolactone (PCL) Composites As Phase Change Materials

Saidatul Akmal, Shabri (2015) Preparation And Characterization Of Form-Stabilized Paraffin/Polycaprolactone (PCL) Composites As Phase Change Materials. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

Text (24 pages) Preparation And Characterization Of Form-Stabilized Paraffin Polycaprolactone (PCL) Composites As Phase Change Materials 24 Pages.pdf Download (532kB)

Abstract

Phase change materials (PCM) are materials that can absorb, store and release latent heat of fusion to the environment during melting and freezing process. One of most known PCM are paraffins which possess properties such as high thermal energy storage and thermal stability to make it the most suitable PCM in thermal energy storage applications. However, the major problem of using paraffin PCMs is leakage during melting process. In this study, paraffin/polycaprolactone (PCL) composites were prepared at varied compositions in order to obtain form-stabilized composites thus eliminate the leakage problem. The composites were prepared by dissolving paraffin and PCL in chloroform and then purified through precipitation techniques. The melting temperature and the latent heat of fusion were measured by Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC). The leakage test was conducted by placing the composite samples on a set of four-layers filter papers and left in furnace at 90°C for 1 hour. The leaking test result shows that by incorporating PCL into paraffin phase, the leakage percentage reduced to below 30% as compared to that of pure paraffin (leakage percentage 78.4%). Almost no leakage occurred for the sample of 40% paraffin/60% PCL composites. The PCL polymer matrix in the composites may have trapped paraffin molecules during melting process thus prevent it from leaking. The DSC results also show that the melting temperature and latent heat of fusion of the composites did not change much as compared to that of pure paraffin. It can be concluded the paraffin/PCL composites are form-stabilized PCM which potentially become a novel PCM candidate for thermal energy storage applications.

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