Effect of sulfur addition into nitrile rubber latex on coating performance of phase change material

Phase change materials (PCMs) are promising for latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) applications. However, encapsulation of PCMs is needed to prevent them from leaking before being utilized in energy storage system. The main aim for this work is to produce form stable phase change material (FSPCM) that can withstand volume change of PCM during phase transition, thus overcomes leakage shortcoming. FSPCM was produced by dip coating of myristic acid (MA) in pure nitrile rubber (NBR) latex and NBR containing 0.5 phr sulfur (sulfur-NBR). The purpose of adding sulfur is to increase flexibility and ductility of the coating layer after curing process. The coating performance of PCM was evaluated through leakage test and mass loss percentage of coated PCM after thermal test was calculated. PCM coated with sulfur-NBR did not leak after thermal test and the percentage mass loss of FSPCM was 0.37%. PCM coated with pure NBR has mass loss percentage of 60.28%.