Temperature Adaptable Hollow Fibers Containing Polyethylene Glycols

Abstract

Polyethylene glycols (PEG's with average molecular weights of 400, 600, 1,000 and 3,350) incorporated as 57% aq. solutions into hollow rayon and polypropylene fibers, after drying and conditioning, produced heat contents (Q) 1.2-2.5 times greater than untreated hollow polypropylene and 2.2-4.4 times greater than untreated hollow rayon fibers. The resultant Q values in a given temperature interval were reproducible for at least 50 heating and cooling cycles with no adverse change in their thermal performance compared to their first heating and cooling cycle. As monitored by differential scanning calorimetry, these modified fibers had thermal storage and release values useful at tempratures as low at -8 to -48°C on cooling and as high as +42 to +77°C on heating, with little variability in Q values within the same fiber or between different batches of the same fiber containing a particular polyethylene glycol.