The rapid world economic growth has led to an increase in the energy consumption.
So, the energy efficiency of buildings is very important because this is one of
the leading sectors in energy consumption, in developed countries. The phase
change materials (PCM) have the ability to reduce the temperature variation, due
to their capability of absorbing and releasing energy to the environment. The PCM
can be incorporated into building materials using different methods, such as encapsulation,
shape-stabilization, direct incorporation and immersion. The most
common form of this material utilization is through encapsulation. It should be
noted that, currently, there are still high production costs involved with PCM encapsulation.
Thus, it is imperative to develop mortars with PCM incorporation
based on inexpensive raw materials (PCM direct incorporation), to address the
high production costs of macro or microencapsulated PCM. The main objective of
this work was the study of the physical and mechanical properties of cement mortars
with direct incorporation of PCM, with a melting temperature of about 22 ºC.
Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that the addition of this material
caused some changes in the fresh and hardened properties of cement mortars.