Thermal Properties of Borax/Lauric Acid-Impregnated Wood

Abstract

Phase change materials (PCMs) are solid materials that absorb and release large amounts of latent heat during a phase change. However, the biggest disadvantage of phase change materials is that they are flammable. In this study, we used borax (BX) to develop a non-flammable PCM to examine the properties of beech wood samples. For this purpose, an oil/water emulsion was prepared by adding 10% lauric acid (LA) to the BX aqueous solution prepared at 5% concentration. Beech wood samples were impregnated with the prepared mixture using vacuum/autoclave. TGA (thermogravimetric analyzer) and DSC (differential scanning calorimeter) analysis and MFT (Mini Fire Tube) method, which is an adopted and a modified ASTM E69 method, were used to thermal properties including phase change temperature, enthalpy, thermal stability. According to Mini Fire Tube (MFT) test results, 78% weight loss and maximum temperature 392,2 degrees C was observed in the control samples, while 34% weight loss with max. Temperature 221,3 degrees C were observed in 5% BX + 10%LA treatment in 300 s. The results show that impregnated wood phase change enthalpy of 42.2 J/g, and phase change temperature of 55.29 degrees C.