A Facile Method for Fabricating a Monolithic Mullite Fiber-Reinforced Alumina Aerogel with Excellent Mechanical and Thermal Properties
Lin Liu,
Xiaodong Wang,
Ze Zhang,
Yixin Shi,
Yicheng Zhao,
Shiqi Shen,
Xiandong Yao,
Jun Shen
Affiliations
Lin Liu
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure Materials and Technology, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Xiaodong Wang
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure Materials and Technology, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Ze Zhang
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure Materials and Technology, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Yixin Shi
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China
Yicheng Zhao
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China
Shiqi Shen
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China
Xiandong Yao
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China
Jun Shen
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure Materials and Technology, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Alumina aerogels are considered to have good application prospects in the high-temperature field. In this study, monolithic mullite fiber-reinforced alumina aerogels with excellent mechanical and thermal properties were synthesized via a facile method without the use of any chelating agents. This method successfully avoids the introduction of impurities during the use of catalysts and chelating agents while greatly reducing gelation time, and thus helps mullite fibers to uniformly disperse in the sol. The compressive stress at 80% strain of the obtained mullite fiber-reinforced alumina aerogels was as high as 16.04 MPa—426% higher than that of the alumina aerogel without the addition of mullite fibers. Regarding thermal properties, the shrinkage of the mullite fiber-reinforced alumina aerogels (AM) samples was less than 1% after heat treatment at 1300 °C for 2 h. Furthermore, the rear-surface temperature of the AM samples burned by a butane blow torch was only 68 °C. These outstanding properties make AM samples promising for application in thermal insulation materials in high-temperature fields such as aerospace and industrial thermal protection in the future.
