Phase change study of spherical phase change microcapsule

In present paper, the spherical phase change microcapsule with the core of paraffin and the shell of urea-formaldehyde resin was numerically investigated using the heat capacity method. The influence of the capsule inner structure on the process of the phase change behavior and the moving characteristic of the phase interface was obtained. The result showed that the increase of Stefan number and phase-change temperature range as well as the decrease of the spherical capsule size could both improve the melting rate of the PCM. The Effects of thickness and thermal conductivity of the shell on the phase change properties were moderate with the critical values existing. The latent heat of PCM had an obvious influence on the phase change process.