Mechanical and thermal properties of reticulated SiC aerogel composite prepared by template method

摘要

A novel structure-controllable reticulated silicon carbide (SiC) skeleton-reinforced silica aerogel composites (SiC/aerogel) were fabricated successfully by template method. Three-dimensional SiC skeletons prepared by different deposition time were prepared via the chemical vapor deposition technology, and then the silica aerogel was induced by the sol-gel process. The test results showed that the mechanical properties increased and thermal conductivities decreased remarkably after impregnating reticulated SiC skeleton with silica aerogel. The SiC/aerogel-24 possessed the highest compressive strength of 0.82 MPa with the thermal conductivity of 0.1597 W/(m center dot K) at 600celcius, while the SiC/aerogel-12 exhibited the lowest thermal conductivity of 0.1244 W/(m center dot K) and its compressive strength was 0.64 MPa. The present work reported a novel method to manufacture the structure-controllable reticulated SiC aerogel composite which could be used as a high-temperature super-thermal insulation material for the potential applications.