Other Application:
Hydrated calcium chloride solid can be used as a phase change energy storage material. For example, calcium chloride hexahydrate can be used for industrial waste heat recovery and solar radiation heat absorption and utilization at medium and low temperatures because its melting point is 30°C and its heat of fusion (i.e., the heat absorbed during the process of a substance changing from a solid phase to a liquid phase at the same temperature) reaches 190 kJ/mol. However, it is similar to all inorganic hydrated salt phase change materials and has a serious problem of supercooling (its supercooling degree reaches 20°C), which requires the addition of nucleating agents to overcome.
Calcium chloride helps to speed up the initial setting in concrete, but chloride ions can cause corrosion of steel bars, so calcium chloride cannot be used in reinforced concrete. Anhydrous calcium chloride can provide a certain degree of moisture to concrete due to its hygroscopicity.
Calcium chloride is also an additive in plastics and fire extinguishers, a filter aid in wastewater treatment, an additive in blast furnaces to control the aggregation and adhesion of raw materials to avoid charge sedimentation, and a diluent in fabric softeners.
The exothermic nature of calcium chloride dissolution makes it used in self-heating cans and heating pads.
In the petroleum industry, calcium chloride is used to increase the density of solid-free brine, and can also be added to the water phase of emulsified drilling fluid to inhibit the expansion of clay. As a flux, it plays a role in lowering the melting point in the process of electrolyzing molten sodium chloride to produce metallic sodium by the Davy process. Calcium chloride is used as one of the material components when making ceramics. It will suspend clay particles in the solution, making it easier to use clay particles during grouting.