Enhanced mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of paraffin microcapsules shelled by hydrophobic-silicon carbide modified melamine-formaldehyde resin

Abstract A new microencapsulated phase change material was prepared by in-situ polymerization using paraffin as core and hydrophobic-silicon carbide (H-SiC) modified melamine-formaldehyde (MF) resin as shell material. The effects of H-SiC dosage on the mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of H-SiC modified MF microcapsules were investigated. The prepared modified microcapsule s have been characterized by FTIR, SEM, EDS, DSC, TGA and thermal conductivity meter (TCM). The results showed that the performance of modified microcapsules with 2% H-SiC was better than that of unmodified microcapsules: the microcapsules ruptured less under pressure and the melting permeability decreased by 10% after pressing, the thermal conductivity increased by 55.82% and the melting enthalpy reached 93.21 J·g-1. Meanwhile, it also showed excellent thermal stability by TGA. The FTIR spectra and EDS analysis demonstrated that H-SiC particles were successfully incorporated into modified microcapsules and evenly distributed on the surface of microcapsules.