Polyurethane (PU) foam is widely used as a thermal insulating material but it does not possess thermal energy storage and thermal regulation properties. In the present work, the phase change material stearic acid (SA) is microencapsulated with melamine‐formaldehyde resin and then introduced into PU prepolymer to fabricate composite foams. In this way, the phase change properties of SA are successfully infused into the PU foams, leading to improved heat storage and thermal regulation ability. The phase change enthalpy of composite PU foams can be facilely tailored from 3.45 to 14.59 J g⁻¹ by changing the loading fraction of microcapsules, allowing an adjustable thermal energy storage and thermal regulation capacity. The composite PU foams exhibit good thermal reliability after 100 cycles of thermal testing. Morphology observation confirms strut rupture and broken cells as well as the distribution of the incorporated microcapsules inside the cell struts. It is found that the added microcapsules have a small influence on the foam density and thermal conductivity. Finally, the microcapsules present a marked effect on the mechanical properties, with an increased elastic modulus from 3.52 to 4.21 MPa and decreased compression strength from 0.29 to 0.13 MPa. We believe that our efforts on the design and development of composite PU foams with thermal energy storage and thermal regulation properties will contribute to broaden the application scope of PU foams. © 2020 Society of Industrial Chemistry

中文翻译：

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包含用于热能存储和热调节的微囊化相变材料的聚氨酯泡沫的制备和表征

聚氨酯（PU）泡沫被广泛用作隔热材料，但它不具有热能存储和热调节性能。在目前的工作中，将相变材料硬脂酸（SA）用三聚氰胺-甲醛树脂微囊化，然后引入PU预聚物中以制造复合泡沫。以此方式，将SA的相变特性成功地注入到PU泡沫中，从而改善了储热和热调节能力。复合PU泡沫的相变焓可以轻松地从3.45调整为14.59 J g ^-1通过改变微胶囊的负载比例，可以调节热能储存和热调节能力。复合PU泡沫在100次热测试后表现出良好的热可靠性。形态学观察证实了支杆破裂和破裂的细胞以及掺入的微囊在支杆内的分布。发现添加的微囊对泡沫密度和热导率的影响很小。最后，微胶囊对机械性能具有显着影响，其弹性模量从3.52 MPa增加到4.21 MPa，压缩强度从0.29 MPa降低到0.13 MPa。我们相信，我们在设计和开发具有热能储存和热调节性能的复合PU泡沫方面的努力将有助于拓宽PU泡沫的应用范围。©2020工业化学学会