Development of a fire-resistant phase change material for energy efficiency in residential buildings

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of capric acid (CA) and boric acid (BA)-based phase change materials (PCMs), developed to improve energy efficiency in residential buildings, on the fire behavior of wood materials. The microstructure, chemical composition, thermal behavior, and thermal stability of the composite were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Mini Fire Tube (MFT), and mass loss calorimetry (MLC) tests. At this loading, the latent heat values were 63.47 J g−1 during melting at 30.7 °C and 67.43 J g−1 during freezing at 25.9 °C for (CA+BA)w. The maximum exhaust gas temperature was measured as 534.9 °C in the (CA+BA)w variant and 545.6 °C in the CA variant. MLC analyses showed that the highest peak heat release rate (pHRR) was 350.0 kW m−2 in CAw-containing samples, while this value decreased to 141.7 kW m−2 in BAw-containing samples.