Publication

Abstract : Recent studies on thermal effects reported a significant rise in global temperature associated with global warming. To counteract this effect in building sectors, the need to keep the building interior at a temperature compatible to comfortable conditions has become a major concern to the engineers. The basic solution is to air condition the building which is not effective on an economic scale considering the life span of the building. So, this necessitates the need for a material to be placed inside the building components during construction stage which can absorb the heat from the environment. Phase change materials (PCM) are materials which absorb and release thermal energy due to increase and decrease in temperature. But this PCM cannot exist as such inside the building components and requires encapsulation. This paper reports the details of a PCM which is encapsulated using suspension polymerization technique and incorporated in cement mortar wall panels. The core material was selected considering the economy and the local ambient temperature. Strength and thermal properties were carried out in the wall panel and showed improved behaviour in thermal resistance compared to the control specimen.