A new calorimetric technique for phase change materials and its application to alkane-based PCMs

Abstract

The correct determination of the phase transition behaviour of phase change materials (PCMs) is paramount for assessing their application potential. In this work, the merits of a novel calorimetric technique, Peltier-element-based adiabatic scanning calorimetry (pASC), for PCM characterisation are investigated, especially in comparison with the commonly-used differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). A comparative study of two alkane-based PCMs, the commercial mixture RT42 and the pure alkane tricosane (C23) with these two techniques shows that pASC provides data at much higher resolution than DSC, due to its operation in thermodynamic equilibrium. Specifically the rate-dependence and deformation that is inherent to DSC experiments is absent in pASC. In addition, the enthalpy of the PCM is directly obtained. pASC results easily conform to the accuracy limits that are proposed in literature for the transition temperature and storage capacity of PCMs.