Phase Change Material (PCM) enhanced plaster for upgrading the energy efficiency of contemporary and historic buildings - PCPLASTER

Project summary

The improvement of the energy efficiency of buildings is currently one of the highest priorities of the energy policy of the European Union. Member States must take measures to encourage existing building owners to renovate their properties by upgrading the building shell’s thermal performance. In this effort, advanced building materials, such as phase changing materials (PCMs), have a major role to play. PCMs are used in many different applications, taking advantage of their capacity of absorbing or releasing energy in the form of latent heat during the melting or solidifying process, respectively. The principle of latent heat storage can be applied to any porous building material, but current research primarily concerns gypsum wallboards, cementitious composites and insulation materials. A PCM-enhanced plaster is a heat storage medium combining an appropriate PCM with a cementitious or non-cementitious matrix to produce a low cost thermal storage material with structural and thermostatic properties. Although important research efforts have been conducted in the recent past to boost the penetration of PCM-enhanced plasters in the building material market, their applicability remains restricted to specific application fields. The objective of the proposed project is the development of a novel cementless PCM-enhanced plaster with improved physical, chemical, mechanical and thermal properties, which will be appropriate for the southern European climatic conditions. The proposed PCM-enhanced plaster will be thermally efficient, reliable and durable in use, and it will come at a low cost. The project also aims for improvements in the production process and lifecycle performance and impacts of PCM-enhanced plasters. The aforementioned objective will be satisfied by means of combined R&D activities at both university and industry levels. The thermal and mechanical properties of the PCM plaster will be experimentally and numerically investigated. The research will also aim to define appropriate thermophysical and hygric properties for PCM-enhanced plasters for the southern Europe boundary conditions throughout the year. A parametrical analysis will result in the development of a series of PCM-enhanced lime plasters. Pilot applications and field measurements will be conducted in order to verify the numerical results and the efficiency of the new products, focusing on their thermal and physico-mechanical properties. The compatibility of the PCM-enhanced plasters with existing building materials will also be investigated, as this is of paramount importance in restoration and renovation projects. A Life Cycle Analysis performance of selected PCM-enhanced plasters will also be conducted; a feasibility study will be additionally carried out to determine whether the new product will be able to enter the market at a competitive level. Building integration of the PCM-enhanced plaster is expected to lead to reduced energy consumption. This will support the European community in meeting its strategic policy targets of reduction in primary energy use in the building sector. The proposed research will cover both fundamental and applied aspects and will enable the establishment of a durable collaboration and dialogue between RTD performers, material researchers/producers and industrial end-users. The active integration of a PCM-enhanced plaster manufacturer in the proposal guarantees the relevance of the research.