The Prediction of Heat Storage Properties by the Study of Structural Effect on Organic Phase Change Materials

In this study, organic compounds with different structure were investigated, their latent heats of fusion, melting points and thermal stabilities were measured, and as the final step, trends in structure effect on compound properties were derived. The spectrum of measured compounds is wide including hydrocarbons and their derivatives such as alkanes, alcohols, amines, carboxylic acids, dicarboxylic acids, aromatic hydrocarbons etc. All measured results were transparently processed and arranged in charts and figures, so derived trends can be easily read. Both, the chain length and the functional group position on the hydrocarbon chain influence the melting point and latent heat value. Different phenomena, such as polymorphism of the alkanes or packing effect on the carboxylic acids, were observed. The melting point appears to increase with the chain length for most of the measured compounds. Such dependence has not been demonstrated in the effect of chain length on the latent heat value. Moreover, this paper is a source of thermodynamic data such as the latent heat of fusion, melting point, supercooling and thermic stability of different organic phase change materials within the melting temperature range between -5 – 80 °C.