%0 Journal Article
%T Influence of Phase-Change Materials on Thermo-Physiological Comfort in Warm Environment
%A Damjana Celcar
%J Journal of Textiles
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/757319
%X The purpose of this research work is to investigate the influence of phase-change materials (PCMs) on thermo-physiological comfort of different male business clothing systems evaluated in warm environment. The impact of particular business clothing on the thermo-physiological comfort of the wearer during different physical activity and environmental conditions (between 25ˇăC and 10ˇăC with step of 5ˇăC), artificially created in a climate chamber, was determined experimentally, as a change of three physiological parameters of a human being: mean skin temperature, heart rate, and the amount of evaporated and condensed sweat. A questionnaire and an assessment scale were also used before, during, and after each experiment in order to evaluate the wearerˇŻs subjective feeling of comfort. The results of the performed research work show that male business clothing systems in combination with PCMs do not affect the thermal-physiological comfort of the wearer in warm environment significantly, except at an ambient temperature of 15ˇăC, where clothing systems in combination with PCMs produce a small heating effect. Furthermore, it was concluded that clothing systems in combination with PCMs indicate a small temporary thermal effect that is reflected in a slight rising or lowering of mean skin temperature during activity changes. 1. Introduction Phase-change materials (PCMs), also called latent heat storage materials [1], are materials that can absorb, store, and release thermal energy as latent heat, while they go through a solid-liquid transition [2]. They were developed to regulate the human body temperature fluctuations, assuring the thermal-physiological comfort of the wearer. The most widespread PCMs in textiles are paraffin waxes (alkyl hydrocarbons such as eicosane, nonadecane, octadecane, etc.) with various phase change temperatures (melting and crystallization, i.e., freezing points) depending on their carbon numbers [3]. These liquid hydrocarbons are enclosed in microcapsules, a few microns in diameter. The microcapsule prevents leakage of the material during its liquid phase [2]. The microencapsulation of the PCMs involves enclosing them in thin and resilient polymer shells, so that the PCMs can be changed from solid to liquid and back again within the shells [3]. Microcapsules of phase-change materials can be incorporated into the spinning dope of manufactured fibres (e.g., acrylic, viscose), incorporated into the structure of foams and coated on the textile surface [2]. The developers and producers of PCMs in textile claim that garments made with PCMs
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jtex/2013/757319/