Study On The Preparation And Characterization Of Fatty Acids/montmorillonite Composite Materials For Phase Change Energy Storage

In this paper, some pure fatty acids and their binary systems as phase change materials were discussed. According to the theoretical calculation, the weight compositions, phase change temperatures and enthalpy of fatty acids eutectic mixtures were evaluated by DSC. The eutectic mixtures were suitable for adjustable temperature clothes.The melt intercalation method was presented to prepare the fatty acids/ montmorillonite composite materials for phase change energy storage. The process conditions were researched. The structures and properties were characterized by using XRD, IR and DSC. The result showed that the fatty acids were intercalated effectively into the layers of montmorillonite and the composite were shape stabilized phase change materials, which can keep the same shape in solid state even when the temperature is over the melting temperature of fatty acids. The composite materials had obvious thermal properties, which make them suitable for adjustable temperature clothes.In order to effectively control the phase change process, kinetics of phase change of fatty acids and composite materials were studied by DSC, the activation energies and the reaction orders were calculated.