Preparation and properties of fatty acid eutectics/expanded perlite and expanded vermiculite shape-stabilized materials for thermal energy storage in buildings

In this study, the fatty acid eutectics (capric acid (CA) and lauric acid (LA) eutectics) were impregnated into the expanded perlite (EP) and expanded vermiculite (EVM) to form the two kinds of composite phase change material (PCM). The chemical structure, crystalloid phase were determined by the Fourier transformation infrared spectroscope, X-ray diffractometer. The results show that the eutectics with the EP and EVM do not undergo a chemical reaction and only undergo a physical combination. The SEM results proved that eutectics are well adsorbed in the porous structure of the EP and EVM. The thermal properties were determined by the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The DSC result shows that the melting temperatures and latent heat values of the PCMs are in the range of about 21–23 °C and 81–117 J/g. The maximum impregnation ratio of fatty acid eutectics into EP and EVM were 82.93% and 57.48%. The thermal cycling test proves that the composites have good thermal reliability. TG analysis revealed that the composite PCMs had high thermal durability property above their working temperature ranges. Besides, thermal conductivity of the CA-LA/EP and CA-LA/EVM was increased approximately as 89.14% and 87.41% by adding 5 wt.% expanded graphite (EG). It is envisioned that the prepared shape-stabilized PCMs have considerable potential for developing their roles in thermal energy storage system.