Exterior insulation finishing system using cementitious plaster/microencapsulated phase change material for improving the building thermal storage performance

Among the construction methods used for the construction of buildings, exterior insulation finishing can effectively utilize the thermal energy of a building as it prevents the occurrence of thermal bridges, unlike internal insulation. Recently, along with the global energy saving efforts, building energy saving methods, which effectively use the heat energy in buildings, have emerged. However, the development of superior insulation materials, such as aerogels and vacuum insulation materials, have attracted significant attention. In this study, we optimized the external insulation plastering method using a phase change material (PCM) to improve the efficiency of thermal-energy use and prepared a mortar/microencapsulated PCM (MPCM) composite specimen for use in the external insulation plastering method. Herein, various analyses were conducted to evaluate the prepared specimen, including scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that even if only 10 wt% of MPCM was used, the time-lag effect was improved by 59.4%, indicating excellent thermal storage performance. Therefore, we believe that the use of proposed MPCM can achieve significant thermal performance improvement when applied to various mortar areas in buildings.