Experimental and numerical investigations on a flexible paraffin/fiber composite phase change material for thermal therapy mask

Flexible composite phase change materials are highly desirable for fabricating novel masks for thermotherapy of allergic rhinitis. Herein, a novel flexible composite phase change material was prepared by adsorbing paraffin with a melting point of 44 °C into a kind of polypropylene hollow fiber via simple impregnation. The maximum mass fraction of paraffin encapsulated in the hollow fiber was determined to be as high as 82.1%. It is shown that the paraffin/fiber composite exhibits a high latent heat value of 199.9 J g−1, making this flexible composite phase change material suitable for thermal therapy. Then, the as-prepared flexible composite was woven to a cuboid block. The thermal conductivity of the cuboid block is much lower than the pure paraffin block, which has an advantage of thermal therapy mask for allergic rhinitis. Therefore, a channel-type mask was designed for the thermal therapy of allergic rhinitis. Experimental and simulative investigations on its thermal release performance (2250 s of the plateau at ~43 °C) prove this new kind of mask has great potential in thermal therapy of allergic rhinitis. With high thermal storage capability, flexibility, low thermal conductivity and excellent thermal release performance, this new kind of phase change composite shows great potential in thermal therapy of biomedical fields.