Selection of thermal accumulative material to develop “smart ink” for 3D printing in the construction industry

Introduction. 3D printing is a promising technology to improve the efficiency of construction. At the present time, one of the main disadvantages of this technology remains the low functionality of printed products, in particular, traditional methods are used for thermal insulation and conditioning of printed buildings, which reduces the productivity of the technology.
In this regard, the use of thermal accumulative materials (TAM) with phase transition function in building 3D printing to ensure a constant comfortable temperature in the building seems promising. A paraffin-based composite TAM has been investigated for the development of “smart” construction “ink” that will provide printed buildings operating in a temperate climate zone with a passive thermoregulation function.

Materials and methods. Differential scanning calorimetry method was used to study the thermal effects of phase transitions of composite TAM consisting of paraffin, paraffin oil and petroleum jelly.

Results. A decrease in the peak temperatures of TAM phase transitions was recorded from 53.8 to 32 °C during melting and from 47.6 to 32.6 °C during crystallization. For the two-component composition, the maximum enthalpy reduction was from 102.4 to 27.0 J/g during melting and from 47.7 to 8.5 J/g during crystallization; for the three-component composition, the enthalpy was 60.6 J/g during melting and 20.6 J/g during crystallization. The peak melting temperature for mixtures with 60 and 40 % paraffin is 39.4 and 39.9 °C, the peak crystallization temperature is 43.5 and 33.8 °C, respectively.

Conclusions. The conducted studies have shown that the use of paraffin oil and petroleum jelly allows to shift the temperature boundaries of thermal effects of paraffin-based TAM towards lower values. At the same time, a decrease in the intensity of the corresponding peaks on thermograms is recorded, which indicates a decrease in the enthalpy of phase transition processes. Obtaining three-component TAM makes it possible to maintain a higher enthalpy by providing a sequential phase transformation of each of them.

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