Ignition Resilient Capsules

Excerpt from June 20, 2009 Oak Ridge National Laboratory News Release:

“Fire-resistive phase change material, developed and submitted jointly by Jan Kosny and David Yarbrough of the Energy and Transportation Science Division of ORNL; Tim Riazzi, Dan Davis and Dale Work of Microtek Laboratories; Doug Leuthold of Advanced Fiber Technology; and Marc LaFrance of the U.S. Department of Energy.

This first-ever organic fire-resistive material when incorporated into conventional insulation can improve the heating and cooling efficiency in buildings. The new materials, composed of fatty-acid esters from sustainable plant and animal fats and blended with cellulose insulation, are the first phase change materials to fulfill all requirements in the U.S. flammability tests. The PCM adds thermal mass to buildings, thus generating heating and cooling energy savings of up to 25 percent in residential buildings. Temperature fluctuations are absorbed by the PCM-enhanced insulation and transferred to the environment later, resulting in energy savings.

Funding for this project was provided by Department of Energy's Building Envelope and Windows R&D programs within the Office of Building Technology.”

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