Phase change materials (PCMs) have been integrated into clothing and textiles to provide added value in terms of thermoregulation and thus added comfort to the wearer in intensely hot and cold weather conditions. Since clothing is laundered several times during the service life of the textile, the effects of simulated domestic laundering on the physical and thermal properties of a non-woven textile that contains PCMs were investigated. The thermal properties, such as the thermal degradation, melting, evaporation, and crystallisation were measured by the Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and the Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analytical techniques. The physical properties, such as the microcapsule size distribution, and the microcapsule morphologies of the PCM microcapsules, were measured by the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Raman analytical techniques. The primary objective of this study is to determine the effect of repeated laundering at different wash temperatures.
Part of the book: Phase Change Materials