Synthesis and characterization of the n-butyl palmitate as an organic phase change material

In this research, the n-butyl palmitate was synthesized using the esterification reaction of the PA with n-butanol. The ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transform infrared illustrated that the hydroxyl group and carboxyl group disappeared, and the ester bond appeared after the reaction, explaining that n-butyl palmitate was successfully fabricated. The differential scanning calorimetry indicated that the phase-transition temperature and latent heat are 12.6 °C and 127.1 J g^?1, which was suited to use in low-temperature fields such as food, pharmaceutical, and biomedical. The thermogravimetric analysis suggested that it had great thermal stability during the phase change process. In addition, the thermal conductivity of the n-butyl palmitate was slightly higher than other fatty acid ester, and the 500 thermal cycles test results indicated that it had excellent thermal reliability. Therefore, the n-butyl palmitate is deduced to share great thermal energy storage ability in terms of latent heat thermal energy system applications.

     

Synthesis of a caged bicyclic phosphates derived anhydride and its performance as a flame‐retardant curing agent for epoxy resins

A novel curing and flame‐retardant agent (PEPA‐TMAC) was successfully synthesized. The chemical structure was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Use of PEPA‐TMAC as part of the curing agent in combination with another anhydride for a commercial epoxy resin (EP) was studied. Results of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) indicated that PEPA‐TMAC was an effective curing agent for EP. The dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results showed that the glass transition temperature (T_g) and cross‐linking density (V_e) of EP composites exhibited an increase trend with the addition of PEPA‐TMAC. The limiting oxygen index (LOI) value of EP composites reached 26.9%, and the cone calorimeter results indicated that peak heat release rate (PHRR), total heat release (THR), smoke produce rate (SPR), and total smoke produce (TSP) remarkably decreased with increasing PEPA‐TMAC content. TGA data showed that the addition of PEPA‐TMAC greatly increased the amount of residual char during combustion. The morphology of the residual char was studied by SEM and showed that the addition of PEPA‐TMAC greatly increased the stability of EP composites. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDS), and FTIR results revealed the flame‐retardant mechanism that PEPA‐TMAC can promote the formation of charred layers with the phospho‐carbonaceous complexes in the condensed phase during burning of EP composites.     

Preparation and investigation on tetradecanol and myristic acid/cellulose form-stable phase change material

In this paper, a novel form-stable phase change material (FS PCM) was prepared by incorporating the eutectic mixture of tetradecanol (TD) and myristic acid (MA) into the hydroxylpropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC). HPMC is used as support material, and the eutectic mixture is used as phase change material. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to study the chemical structure, crystallization behavior and morphology of the FS PCM, respectively. FT-IR, XRD and SEM showed that the TD–MA was distributed uniformly in HPMC by physical interaction. Specific surface area (BET) and pore size analysis determined the pore characteristics of the composite, and the results showed the porosity of HPMC. The thermal properties, thermal stability and thermal reliability were detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), thermal cycling test and leakage test. The TG, DSC and leakage analysis results revealed that the absorption of eutectic mixture into HPMC is nearly 50% and without seepage from the composite. The peak temperatures of melting and solidifying were 34.61 and 31.09 °C, and latent heat was 102.11/84.58 J g^?1 by DSC. TG and cycling experiment detected that the FS PCM showed good thermal stability and reliability performance.     

Flame retardancy and thermal degradation properties of polypropylene/wood flour composite modified with aluminum hypophosphite/melamine cyanurate

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this study, aluminum hypophosphite (AP) and melamine cyanurate (MCA) were used as flame retardant in polypropylene (PP)/wood flour (WF) composite....     

The influence of wood flour and compatibilizer (<Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis>-TMI-<Emphasis Type="Italic">g</Emphasis>-PP) on crystallization and melting behavior of polypropylene

Wood flour/polypropylene composites (WPC) were prepared by melt extruding with different wood flour (WF) loadings. The non-isothermal crystallization and melting was studied with different WF loadings, for W40P60 and W40P60M6, the melting was investigated after non-isothermal and isothermal crystalline. Comparing with neat polypropylene, the melting behavior of the composites, both non-isothermally and isothermally, was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results showed that WF was an effective heterogeneous nucleating agent, as evidenced by an increase in the crystallization temperature and the crystallinity for melt crystallization of PP with increasing WF content. For the non-isothermal samples, the origins of the double melting behaviors were discussed, based on the DSC results of PP. The XRD measurements confirmed that no crystalline transition existed during the non-isothermal crystallization process. With m-TMI-g-PP adding, due to compatibilization phenomenon were probably responsible for decreasing T _m, X _c. In the DSC scan after isothermal crystallization process, the single melting behaviors were found and each melting endotherm had a different origin.