Impregnation of a porous material with a PCM on a cotton fabric and the effect of vacuum on thermo-regulating textiles

The purpose of this study was the preparation of a form-stable composite phase change material (PCM) by incorporation of n-nonadecane within the expanded dolomite (ED). In this investigation, two approaches called impregnation treatment with vacuuming and impregnation by magnetic stirrer were used. This method was first proposed for textile thermal protection. In this method, n-nonadecane was applied as the phase change material and ED as the supporting in order to prepare and construct the composite PCM. Composite properties were determined by Fourier transformation infrared spectroscope and scanning electronic microscope (SEM) techniques and the heat transfer measurement and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) were used to determine the thermal properties of composite on fabrics. Also, moisture transfer properties were measured. The SEM results showed that the n-nonadecane was well absorbed in the porous network of the ED. DSC analysis and heat transfer also indicated that fabric temperature range for the amount of coated PCM depends on its area; further, by adding composite to the fabric surface, thermal transfer could be reduced. The maximum percentages of n-nonadecane within ED in the composite PCM1 and PCM2 were measured to be about 90 and 70 mass%, respectively. Thus, the composite PCM1 can be considered as a form-stable composite change phase materials.