Preparation and Characterization of Neopentyl Glycol/Epoxy Resin Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Material for Thermal Energy Storage

Abstract

Neopentyl glycol is a kind of solid-solid phase change material for thermal energy storage. In order to overcome volatilization weight loss caused by the high saturated vapor pressure of neopentyl glycol, epoxy resin was chosen as the encapsulation matrix to inhibit the volatilization of neopentyl glycol when it happens phase change or works in a relatively high temperature environment. The micro morphology analysis indicated that the neopentyl glycol was encapsulated evenly in the epoxy resin matrix. These two components had no chemical reactions and combined with each other by the physical encapsulation. Phase change temperature and latent heat of the composite was measured as 41.26°C and 57.04 J/g respectively, which proves the thermal heat storage performance of the neopentyl glycol was not influenced by the adding of epoxy resin. Meanwhile, attributed to the effective encapsulation and protection by epoxy resin, volatilization weight loss of the neopentyl glycol in the composite decreased significantly and behaved good thermal stability and reliability. After 100 times thermal cycling test, the composite hardly changed in the thermo-physical properties. Thus, the prepared neopentyl glycol/epoxy resin composite phase change material is supposed to be a potential and promising functional material for the applications in low temperature building energy conservation and solar energy storage.