New Material: Research Finds That Flexible Phase Change Fiber Can Be Used For Human Body Temperature Regulation

Schematic diagram of flexible phase change fiber. Courtesy of Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The research team of Shi Quan from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, cooperated with the research team of Wu Zhongshuai, further improved the chemical crosslinking synthesis method on the basis of the previous research on flexible phase change films, and developed an inherently flexible phase change fiber with solid solid phase change characteristics by using wet spinning technology. Recently, relevant achievements were published in German Applied Chemistry.

Phase change fiber is a kind of fiber type phase change material, which can absorb or release a large amount of heat energy at approximately constant temperature, showing the application potential of regulating human body temperature in different environments. However, the current research focuses on the development of composite phase change fibers based on solid-liquid phase change materials, which are faced with problems such as low energy storage density, poor durability and poor flexibility in practical applications.

Based on the previous research on flexible phase change energy storage materials, the researchers further regulated the chemical crosslinking process and combined with the wet spinning process to prepare the inherently high flexible polymer based phase change fibers with solid solid phase transition characteristics. The fiber exhibits high energy storage density and adjustable phase change performance, and the enthalpy of phase change has hardly changed after 2000 cold and hot cycles. In addition, in this process, researchers can dye in situ to prepare phase change fibers with different colors, which can be mixed with cotton yarn and other fibers for spinning, showing excellent compatibility and processability.

The actual human thermal management experiment shows that the flexible phase change fiber has excellent temperature control performance, which provides a new direction for the research and development of new generation intelligent temperature regulating fiber materials.