Sandwich panels are a good option as building materials, as they offer excellent characteristics in
a modular system. The goal of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using the microencapsulated
PCM (Micronal BASF) in sandwich panels to increase their thermal inertia and to reduce
the
energy demand of the final buildings. In this paper, to manufacture the sandwich panel with
microencapsulated PCM three different methods were tested. In case 1, the PCM was added mixing the
microencapsulated PCM with one of the components of the polyurethane. In the other two cases, the
PCM was added either a step before (case 2) or a step after (case 3) to the addition of the polyurethane
to the metal sheets. The results show that in case 1 the effect of PCM was overlapped by a possible
increase in thermal conductivity, but an increase of thermal inertia was found in case 3. In case 2,
different results were obtained due to the poor distribution of the PCM. Some samples showed the
effect of the PCM (higher thermal inertia), and other samples results were similar to the conventional
sandwich panel. In both cases (2 and 3), it is required to industrialize the process to improve
the results.
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