Sasols phase change materials help you keep your cool

15 Apr 2021

Germany

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Maintaining a comfortable body temperature is important to most people, but for athletes, it can be the difference between winning and losing. Keeping cool during long stretches of exertion without cooling down too much during periods of inactivity is critical to optimal performance. 

 

Sasol Chemicals’ Essential Care Chemicals business segment offers a unique solution with multiple applications – phase change materials, or PCMs.  

 

Produced at the company’s facility in Brunsbüttel, Germany, PCMs absorb or release a significant amount of heat during the “phase change,” when a material goes from one physical state to another. 

 

When worked into clothing, they help maintain a comfortable microclimate around the wearer’s skin – mirroring the external temperature until the PCMs’ melting point is reached, when they transition from solid to liquid to absorb heat. When the body begins to cool down, the heat stored in the PCMs is released back to the wearer when the PCMs change their phase back from liquid to solid. 

 

During the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship in France, the Austrian, Czech, Italian and Slovakian teams all benefited from Sasol’s PCMs woven into their jerseys.  

 

Of course, you don’t need to be a pro football player to benefit from the unique chemistry of Sasol’s PCM technology. PCMs are widely used in bedding applications where PCM pillows, sheets and even mattresses help maintain comfortable temperatures during sleep. PCMs can also be used for cooling vests for workers who work outside in very high temperatures, as well as in building applications. 

 

Sasol’s PCMs have an environmental advantage in that they are bio-based, derived from high purity, highly linear paraffins made from vegetable oils. They also provide exceptional energy storage capability (latent heat) at the desired temperature. Sasol PCM products are also very stable and non-corrosive so they can be used for extended periods of time and are compatible with all packaging types. 

 

Long-lasting, high-performing and limited only by imagination – with Sasol’s PCMs, we demonstrate once again how we apply our unique chemistry to innovate for a better world.