Polymer nanoparticles to decrease thermal conductivity of phase change materials

Abstract

Microparticles including paraffin are currently used for textiles coating in order to deaden thermal shocks. We will show that polymer nanoparticles embedded in those microsized capsules allow for decreasing the thermal conductivity of the coating and enhance the protection in the stationary regime. A reasonable volume fraction of polymer nanoparticles reduces the conductivity more than predicted by Maxwell mixing rules. Besides, measurements prove that the polymer nanoparticles do not affect the latent heat and even improve the phase change behaviour as well as the mechanical properties.