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Hygrothermal properties and heat transfer analysis of silica aerogel incorporated cementitious composites

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Abstract

Silica aerogel is a nano-porous ultra-light weight aggregate, and its excellent thermal insulation performance has attracted much attention in building energy conservation. However, the hygrothermal properties parameters such as thermal conductivity, water absorption characteristics, moisture distribution, and pore structure of aerogel incorporated cementitious composites (AICs) are unclear and lack for experimental data. The effects of different aerogel contents on the microstructure and thermophysical parameters of cementitious composites were systematically studied based on traditional characterization methods (Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscope) and low field NMR technology was used to study the distribution and migration of water of AICs in the pore structure. The result shows that the microstructure, thermal insulation performance, and hydrophobicity of AICs are affected by aerogel content enormously. The water migration in the pore structure of AICs can be divided into four stages: rapid rise stage (0–15 min), slow growth stage (15 min − 1 h), uniform growth stage (1 – 12 h), and stable stage (12 − 24 h). The thermal conductivity decreases significantly (52.72%) with the increase in aerogel. However, the thermal conductivity of AICs increases after seven days of water absorption.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 51976205, 51904282].

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  1. Jianhong Yang, Dongmei Huang and Zhenmin Feng are contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Quality and Safety Engineering, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310018, China

    Jianhong Yang, Dongmei Huang, Zhenmin Feng, Sen He, Zhe Kong, Xuejian Zhang & Dunhao Lu

  2. Institute of Service-Oriented Manufacturing, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311199, China

    Zhenmin Feng

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  1. Jianhong Yang
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Yang, J., Huang, D., Feng, Z. et al. Hygrothermal properties and heat transfer analysis of silica aerogel incorporated cementitious composites. Heat Mass Transfer 59, 1621–1633 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-023-03355-x

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