Preparation and thermal reliability of methyl palmitate/methyl stearate mixture as a novel composite phase change material

•The CPCM with suitable phase change temperature range has been developed.•The thermal reliability of the CPCM is good.•The chemical reliability of the CPCM is good.•The CPCM can be used in preparing thermo-regulating fibers and building materials.•The phase change fiber can be used in preparing energy storage building materials. In this study, a series of binary mixtures of methyl palmitate (MP) and methyl stearate (MS) were prepared, and their thermal properties were measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), aiming for a novel composite phase change material (CPCM) for potential application in the warm area of China. The results indicate that the mixture consisting of 80wt% MS and 20wt% MP is optimum as the CPCM in terms of the phase change temperature ranges (Tm=25.52–40.38°C; Tf=31.11–21.60°C) and latent heats (ΔHm=164.1J/g; ΔHf=154.9J/g). In addition, the thermal reliability and chemical reliability of the CPCM were studied by accelerated thermal cycling test and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis. The results show that the CPCM has good thermal reliability and chemical stability.