Thermal energy storage systems based on poly(vinyl chloride) blends

A series of blends of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) with: (i) poly(methyl meth acrylate) (PMMA), or (ii) polyoxymethylene (POM), with poly(ethylene glycol ) (PEG) as a thermal energy storage material, has been investigated by diff erential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), th ermogravimetric analysis (TGA) alone, or coupled with Fourier transform inf rared spectroscopy (FTIR). For the blends under investigation it was found that PEG has a significant effect on their thermal properties. It causes th e initial decomposition temperatures to increase by about 70 degrees C for PVC/POM blends, a substantial suppression of the volatile products evolutio n for PVC/PMMA blends, and for both polymer systems an improvement in the s urface morphology in terms of uniformity. Based on the radical decompositio n schemes of PEG and PVC a possible radical scavenger action was discussed as a reason for greater thermal stability. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.