Combination of phase change material and water-proof additive to improve thermal insulation and water-proof capability for house walls

Abstract

Building envelop is expected not only to encapsulate the building but also to contribute into the thermal performance of the building. For energy saving purpose, it is recommended that the wall, as the main part of building envelop, should be able to protect the building from unexpected inflow heat flux from outdoor through the wall to the indoor space. Usually, especially in the popular resident buildings in Vietnam, the wall is constructed with brick and mortar (cement and sand). After getting hardened, the structure is equivalent to a flat plate solid conductor with a specific but quite high thermal conductivity. As a result, there is a need to develop thermal performance of the wall in order to reduce power consumption for air temperature condition purpose. In this research, a modified mortar mixture is proposed with the addition of waterproof additive and phase change material (PCM) powder. Results show that with relevant mixing rate, the new mixture may reduce upto 23.1% of the heat flow rate through the wall and help significantly reduce the power consumption for air cooling. However, the appearance of the PCM and waterproof additive causes a slight reduction of the wall strength.