Effect of Phase-Change Materials on Properties of Concrete

Developing a PCM-enhanced mortar for thermally active precast walls

“…Available literature on building materials incorporating Phase Change Materials (PCM) is extensive since a wide range of different materials and building products, such as gypsum plaster, gypsum boards, concrete, panels, bricks, membranes and insulating materials, have been considered as matrix materials to include PCM. The main objective of these studies was to improve the thermal behaviour of passive construction systems by increasing the thermal storage capacity of the building envelope [17,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

Effect of micro-encapsulated phase change materials on the mechanical properties of concrete

“…In the additive method, MPCM is used as an additive in the concrete mixture. In the replacement method, the loss of compressive strength due to the addition of MPCM is not as high as for the additive method [102].…”

“…The main reasons for encapsulation of materials applied in the building industry are [93]: Chapter I There are two methods to add micro-encapsulated phase change materials (MPCM) to concrete materials, which are called the MPCM replacement method and the MPCM additive method [102]. In the replacement method, MPCM replace a certain percentage of fine aggregate (sand) in the concrete mixture.…”

“…However, extra water or superplasticiser can be added to improve the workability; but this is likely to influence the mechanical properties of the hardened concrete. [102,125]. PCM might also induce strength reducing voids and air bubbles in concrete [109].…”

“…It seems that the more polar functional groups on the polymer shell also helps to disperse the Chapter VI microcapsules into the concrete matrix better than a hydrophobic shell [145]. The addition of MPCM to mortar or concrete reduce the compressive strength [102,109,110,122,125].…”