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High-strength mullite fibers reinforced ZrO2–SiO2 aerogels fabricated by rapid gel method

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Abstract

A rapid gelation process is adopted to fabricate mullite fibers-reinforced ZrO2–SiO2 (M/ZrO2–SiO2) aerogels. The short-cut mullite fibers are introduced into ZrO2–SiO2 sol via aging and supercritical drying, and the epoxides are used as gelation accelerators. The as-prepared M/ZrO2–SiO2 aerogels have a three-dimensional reticulated porous structure similar to those of pure ZrO2–SiO2 aerogels observed by scanning electron microscopy, which indicates that the addition of fibers does not obviously affect the morphology of aerogels. It is observed that the mullite fibers disperse in the aerogels homogeneously, and fibers combine well with aerogels. M/ZrO2–SiO2 aerogel composites exhibit high compressive strengths up to 0.438 MPa, which indicates that this structure benefits the loading transfer and thus enhances their mechanical properties. Moreover, the thermal conductivity of M/ZrO2–SiO2 aerogel composites is as low as that of the pure ZrO2–SiO2 aerogels (~0.0270 W m−1 K−1).

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the funding supports from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.: 51202157), Tianjin Research Program of Application Foundation and Advanced Technology (Grant No.: 14JCQNJC02800), and Independent Innovation Foundation of Tianjin University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Advanced Ceramics and Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering of Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Jian He, Xiaolei Li, Dong Su, Huiming Ji & Yingchen Qiao

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  1. Jian He
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  2. Xiaolei Li
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  3. Dong Su
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  4. Huiming Ji
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  5. Yingchen Qiao
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Correspondence to Xiaolei Li or Dong Su.

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He, J., Li, X., Su, D. et al. High-strength mullite fibers reinforced ZrO2–SiO2 aerogels fabricated by rapid gel method. J Mater Sci 50, 7488–7494 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9308-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9308-2

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