Thermal and mechanical properties of gypsum sandwich-panels with phase change material

Energy deficiency and environmental pollution are always the most significant issues that researchers confront. One of the solutions for economising on energy consumption in structures is to use phase change materials (PCMs) in elements such as wallboards, roofs and floors. PCMs have good thermal characteristics such as high fusion heat, large latent heat capacity, solid–liquid phase change and they are also eco-friendly. In this research, PEG600 was used as a PCM in gypsum sandwich-panels with thicknesses of 7 and 10 cm and a PCM ratio of 10 and 15%wt. Gypsum/PEG600 sandwich-panels were constructed in three types – standard, hollow-core and macro-encapsulated. They were tested using apparatus under the thermal conditions of two different cities, to measure the maximum reduction of the specimens’ inner side temperature, the time delay to reach the maximum daily temperature and the amount of reduction in temperature, comparing different ratios of integrating PEG600 into gypsum panels. Macro-encapsulated sandwich-panels performed better. These reduced the maximum daily temperature by up to 5.7°C; this amount was 5.6°C and 3.4°C for standard and hollow-core specimens, respectively. The compressive and flexural strengths of gypsum/PEG600 panels reduced with an increasing PEG600 ratio.