Abstract
The aim of this study was to enhance the thermal comfort properties of crude glycerol (CG) derived polyurethane foams (PUFs) using phase change materials (PCMs) (2.5–10.0% (wt/wt)) to contribute to the reduction of the use of non-renewable resources and increase energy savings. The main challenge when adding PCM to PUFs is to combine the low conductivity of PUFs whilst taking advantage of the heat released/absorbed by PCMs to achieve efficient thermal regulation. The solution considered to overcome this limitation was to use expandable graphite (EG) (0.50–1.50% (wt/wt)). The results obtained show that the use of PCMs increased the heterogeneity of the foams cellular structure and that the incorporation of PCMs and EG increased the stiffness of the ensuing composite PUFs acting as filler-reinforcing materials. However, these fillers also caused a substantial increase of the thermal conductivity and density of the ensuing foams which limited their thermal energy storage. Therefore, numerical simulations were carried using a single layer panel and the thermal and physical properties measured to evaluate the behavior of a composite PUF panel with different compositions, and guide future formulations to attain more effective results in respect to temperature buffering and temperature peak delay.
Highlights
One of the primary roles of external building envelopes is to assure good indoor thermal comfort conditions, by keeping the inside of buildings cool in the summer and warm in the winter
The aim of this study was to enhance the thermal comfort performance of crude glycerol (CG) derived PU foams (PUFs), via the incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs) aiming at the development of sustainable materials which can contribute to the reduction of the use of non-renewable resources and increase energy savings
To overcome the low thermal conductivity of the neat foam and improve the efficiency of PCMs, expandable graphite (EG) was added to the formulation
Summary
One of the primary roles of external building envelopes is to assure good indoor thermal comfort conditions, by keeping the inside of buildings cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The capacity of the materials used to store/release thermal energy is essential [1,2,3,4]. Rigid PU foams (PUFs) are an important class of materials due to their outstanding thermal insulation properties which, compared with other insulation materials, are highly competitive. If heat storage materials are incorporated into PUFs, the heat loss to and the gain from surroundings, will be reduced. The energy saving will be much more efficient [5,6,7,8]. This concept has found growing interest as a result of the rise of a new class of materials: the so-called phase change materials (PCMs). PCMs, called latent heat-storage materials, Materials 2018, 11, 1896; doi:10.3390/ma11101896 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
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