The Preparation and Characterization of Ultrafine Fatty Acid Ester/Poly(meta-phenylene isophthalamide) Phase Change Fibers Designed for Thermo-regulating Protective Clothing

Poly(meta-phenylene isophthalamide, PMIA)-based phase change fibers (PCFs) with fatty acid ester (i.e. HPCMEs) as the functional ingredient were successfully fabricated by emulsion electrospinning. Subsequent characterizations by FE-SEM, TEM, DSC and TGA were performed to investigate their morphology, structure, thermal storage and decomposition behavior, respectively. Experimental results reveal that the fabricated PCFs are randomly arranged and show a good cylindrical structure with fiber diameters ranging from tens to hundreds of nanometers. Most of the HPCMEs are well encapsulated by PMIA sheaths and appear as isolated segments or elongated channels inside the fiber. Given their proper phase change span (30-40A degrees C), considerable enthalpies, good shape stability and greatly enhanced thermal resistance, the prepared HPCMEs/PMIA PCFs are expected to have wide prospects in thermo-regulating protective clothing and other fields related to thermal energy storage.