raw · papers · ingested 2026-07-02
Thermotropic Optical Response of Silicone–Paraffin Flexible Blends (Polymers 2022)
confidence: high
Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9739761/
Source: Polymers 2022 (open access via PMC9739761). Credibility: High (peer-reviewed, open access, primary optical + DSC data).
Key points
- Mechanism, stated plainly: paraffin is transparent above melt, opaque solid “due to its semicrystalline and polycrystalline nature.”
- Optical contrast: best blends 65–73 pp swing (opaque solid 23 °C → transparent molten). 2 mm PDMS-P5-C1 = 73.3 pp; 3 mm B-PDMS-P3 = 72.6 pp.
- PCM: RT44HC, latent heat 250 kJ/kg (neat 270.9 J/g). Blend melt 35–39 °C vs 43.7 °C neat — above comfort range, a demonstrator not a product.
- Leakage control: CTAB surfactant (3 phr) → ~0.3 wt% exudation plateau over one week. No multi-hundred-cycle optical data.
- Captures the transparency ↔ latent-heat ↔ leakage trade-off and the shape-stabilized-matrix strategy.