Fabrication and characterization of polyurethane foams containing phase change materials for thermal energy storage

Abstract

A series of novel polyurethane foams (PUFs) with polyethylene oxide segments as side chain were prepared by adding diethanolamine modified methoxypolyethylene glycol (DMPEG) into the foaming system. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results indicated that the PUFs with polyethylene oxide segments as side chain exhibited much higher thermal energy storage (TES) capacity than PUFs with polyethylene oxide segments as main chain. Besides, the TES capacity of PUFs improved with increasing weight percentage of DMPEG added to the foaming system. Thermal conductivity testing and computer-aided thermal measurement indicated that the addition of DMPEG into the foaming system significantly improved the thermal insulating property and thermoregulation property of the PUFs. The cell diameter, compressive strength, and compressive modulus of PUFs decreased slightly with increasing amount of DMPEG added to the foaming system. The accelerated thermal cycling test and thermogravimetric analysis showed that the synthesized PUFs exhibited good thermal reliability and stability, which is highly important for thermal energy storage applications.