Properties of a Solid–Solid Phase Change Material PAN/SA-LA/ZMS

In this study, novel solid–solid phase change materials (PCM) composed of polyacrylonitrile, binary of fatty acids ((blending of stearic acid (SA) and lauric acid (LA)) and zeolite molecular sieve (ZMS) were prepared by solution blending process. The structure and properties of the PCM were characterized using flourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), polarized optical microscopy (POM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TG), respectively. DSC analysis indicated that the crystallization latent heat of the PCM was 125.22 J/g and its phase transition temperature was about 17 °C. The temperature curve for step cooling of the PCM showed that it’s holding time achieved 1 480 s, which explains that the PCM had excellent heat-insulating properties. Based on all results it can be concluded that the novel PCM can be considered as potential PCM for thermal energy storage.