Mechanical Properties of Lightweight Cementitious Cellular Composites Incorporating Micro-Encapsulated Phase Change Material

This work focuses on combining digitally architected cellular structures with cementitious mortar incorporating micro-encapsulated phase change material (mPCM) to fabricated lightweight cementitious cellular composites (LCCCs). Voronoi structures with different randomness are designed for the LCCCs. Aided by the indirect 3D printing technique, the LCCCs were prepared with a reference mortar (REF) and a mortar incorporating mPCM. The compressive behavior of the LCCCs was studied at the age of 28 days, by experimental and numerical methods. It was found that the highly randomized Voronoi structure and the mPCM have minor negative influence on the compressive properties of the LCCCs. The mPCM incorporated LCCCs have high relative compressive strength compared to conventional foam concrete. Furthermore, the critical role of air voids defects on the compressive behavior was identified. The highly randomized porous Voronoi structure, high mPCM content and good compressive strength ensure the LCCCs’ great potential as a novel thermal insulation construction material.

Nanoencapsulated PCM slurries for the development of thermoregulating gypsums

Gypsums with improved thermal properties have been obtained using a thermoregulatory nanocapsulated slurry (NPCS) as additive. In order to determine the effects of the slurries in the gypsum, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of the different composite materials (gypsum – polystyrene nanoparticles (PS) or nanocapsules (NPCM)) have been studied. Concentrated slurries from polystyrene nanoparticles without (PSS) and with encapsulated phase change material (NPCS) have been synthesized. Firstly, gypsum blocks made of nanoparticles/hemihydrate with mass ratios ranging from 0.0 to 0.42 have been produced from PSS, in order to determine the optimal weight ratio with the best mechanical/physical characteristics. Then, the thermal gypsum block from NPCM/hemihydrate has been prepared at the selected weight ratio. Although PS and NPCM addition reduces the mechanical properties, all the developed materials satisfied the mechanical European regulation EN 13279-2 which limits the mechanical characteristics of gypsums composites. The gypsum composites with PS nanoparticles presented a reduction of the thermal conductivity, so these materials can be used as insulating material. The gypsum composite with NPCM/Hem = 0.3 had an improvement in the thermal storage capacity of 88.76 % and seems to be a good alternative for applying the thermal energy storage technology in buildings.