Textiles incorporated with MicroPCMs for thermal management applications

Thermal properties of textiles play very important role in determining the comfort of textile and clothing system. Phase change materials (PCMs) contain latent heat. The increase or decrease in temperature of surroundings causes PCM to melt or solidify by absorbing hear from or release heat to surrounding environment. During melting and crystallizing process, the temperature of PCM does not change. A garment incorporated with PCM is able to main a relatively stable temperature within the micro-environment between the garment and the wearer depending on the amount the PCMs.
The aim of this research is to study the thermal properties of textiles affected by PCMs. Polypropylene filaments incorporated with microencapsulate PCM have been developed. The latent heat contained in the filaments having different amount of PCM was analysed using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The mechanical properties of the developed filaments were also studied, together with the surface morphology of filaments using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, Finite Element models of textiles incorporated with PCM have been developed and validated by experimental results. The thermal properties of the models were further studied through the post-processing process.