Preparation of form‐stable silica/polyethylene glycol composites using flash‐drying for large‐scale melt‐spun fibers with thermal management property

Abstract The combination of phase change materials (PCMs) with fibers can afford smart fibers with thermal management properties. However, the issues of easy leakage and poor thermal stability of PCMs often limit their use in high‐temperature spinning. Herein, we report a form‐stable PCM of spherical SiO 2 /PEG composite that was prepared through flash‐drying using inorganic dendritic silica (D‐SiO 2 ) as the core skeleton to support organic polyethylene glycol (PEG). The SiO 2 /PEG composite not only presents high crystallization enthalpy (101.35 J/g), but also maintains a superior phase change stability. Meanwhile, it exhibits a significant temperature hysteresis effect during heating and cooling, and the endothermic and exothermic time are 381.95 and 293.57 s, respectively. Because the degradation temperature of 300°C for SiO 2 /PEG is higher than the melt processing temperature of 240–270°C for the preparation of polyamide 6 (PA6) fibers, PA6/SiO 2 /PEG fibers were prepared using melt spinning. The prepared PA6/SiO 2 /PEG fibers exhibit high latent heat (17.14 J/g), outstanding thermal cycling stability and satisfactory temperature adjustment properties, and the temperature‐adjustment time of 458.97 s and temperature difference of 10.68°C under the thermal environment. Moreover, the tensile strength of PCFs‐20% reached 1.97 cN/dtex after drawing, which make PCFs meet the requirements of uses in textile industries.