Thermal Properties of Concrete Incorporated with Shape-stable Phase Change Material

Discipline of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: kong.sih.ying@monash.edu

Abstract

There has been an ever-increasing interest in concrete incorporated with shape-stable phase change material (SSPCM) in recent years for its outstanding thermal performance. In this research, PCM was incorporated into porous lightweight aggregate, namely exfoliated vermiculite to form SSPCM. SSPCMS were integrated with concrete to study their effects on thermal behaviour. Thermal testing was performed using both hot plate and KD2Pro. From the obtained results, it was observed that thermal conductivity and diffusivity reduced by 29% and 63% respectively whereas specific heat capacity increased by 40% with inclusion of SSPCMs. It was concluded that the implementation of SSPCM technology can be seen as a feasible and economical solution for energy efficient buildings.