A novel composite phase change material (PCM) was prepared by blending an organic PCM with an organic-modified montmorillonite. The thermal characteristics of the composite PCM were close to those of the pure PCM, and 1500 times heating-cooling cycles test showed that the composite PCM had good performance stability. Compared with the pure PCM, the composite PCM exhibited higher heat transfer rate owing to the combination with montmorillonite. The composite PCM had a good compatibility with gypsum powders, and the composite gypsum boards prepared had a function of cutting down energy consumption by decreasing the frequency of internal air temperature swings. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.