Performance evaluation of the microencapsulated PCM for wood-based flooring application

Thermal energy storage (TES) systems using microencapsulated phase change material (MPCM) have been recognized as one of the most advanced energy technologies in enhancing the energy efficiency and sustainability of buildings. In this research, we examined a way to incorporate MPCMs with building materials through application for wood-based flooring. Wood-based flooring is commonly used for floor finish materials of residential buildings in Korea. There are three types of wood flooring: laminate flooring, engineered flooring and solid wood flooring. However, wood-based flooring has not performed the characteristic of heat storage. This study is aimed at manufacturing high thermal efficiency wood flooring by increasing its heat storage using MPCM. To increase the heat storage of wood-based flooring, MPCM was used with adhesive for surface bonding of wood-based flooring. As a result, this study confirmed that MPCM is dispersed well in adhesive through the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. From the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis, it can be confirmed that this composite has the characteristic of a thermal energy storage material. Also, we analyzed how this composition was formed by physical combination through the Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis. Also, we confirmed the bonding strength of the material by using the universal testing machine (UTM).