Introduction:
Upon reading the current literature, there are different types of phase change materials (PCM), each with a detailed database of physical, rheological, and thermal characteristics when the PCM is fresh and not impregnated in other materials. In reality, the PCM undergoes multi-thermal cycles and is usually impregnated in other materials such as graphite. To this end, the literature is lacking in investigating the long-term stability of PCMs, and this is one of the reasons why only a few PCMs have been commercialised.
Scope:
To investigate the changes in rheological and structural properties, melting temperature and latent heat of fusion for various selected PCMs over multi-heating and cooling cycles. The cyclic experiments for many PCM samples should be conducted in a controlled heating/cooling environment. Once the cycles concluded, the PCM samples should be thermally analysed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
Undergraduate
Objectives:
Several objectives are outlined to achieve the investigation shown in the scope.
1. To scan the recent literature about the type and properties of PCMs and report the “gap” in the literature.
2. To develop an experimental setup with which to perform thermal testing of multi-cycles of heating and cooling above and below the melting points of the selected PCMs.
3. To compare the thermal performance of the selected fresh PCM to the performance of the impregnated PCM in different structures (gypsum wallboard, concrete, pumice, graphite) after going through many thermal cycles.
4. To suggest suitable micro- and macro-encapsulation techniques.
5. To simulate the experimental data into a model. The resultant model should be validated for accuracy with the collected experimental data.
None
No lab has been assigned to this project