Mortars with direct incorporation of Phase Change Materials: Low and high temperature behavior evaluation

ABSTRACT

Currently, it is necessary to study constructive solutions with good behavior to low and high temperatures exposure, namely that the mortar not completely lose their strength when subjected to different and more demanding temperatures than the operating temperatures. Concerning the knowledge of the phase change materials (PCM) thermal storage capacities, four different compositions based in cement and fly ash were developed inserting different contents of non-encapsulated PCM (0%, 5%, 10% and 20%), by direct incorporation. These compositions were tested to low and high temperatures (-18ºC, 20ºC, 200ºC, 400ºC and 600ºC), through freeze-thaw and compressive and flexural tests. It was possible to conclude that the incorporation of non-encapsulated PCM leads to an improvement of the behavior to the freeze-thaw tests, maintaining an identical behavior to reference mortars when subjected to high temperatures.

Keywords
Mortars; Phase Change Materials; Direct incorporation; Low temperatures; High temperatures