Double-sided functional infrared camouflage flexible composite fabric for thermal management

Abstract

Irregular yttrium oxide nanopuncture-coated hollow glass microspheres (HGMs@Y2O3), as a lightweight, thermal insulating, and high IR reflectivity materials could be prepared by a simple hydrothermal and high-temperature calcination process. Here, a flexible composite fabric with sandwiched structure was designed to combine the good infrared camouflage performance with self-cleaning ability. Thereinto, aluminum foil (AF), HGMs@Y2O3, and polypropylene spunbond nonwoven fabric (PPF) were binded and applied for low emissivity layer, thermal insulating layer and self-cleaning layer, respectively. The flexible composite fabric can realize the infrared camouflage effect to effectively shield the heated object (62.8 °C). The radiation temperature detected by the infrared camera is only 32.4 °C, which had a reduction of 30.4 °C. Based on the functional fabrics (anti-fouling performance), excellent thermal insulation (K = 0.0908 W/m-K) and low infrared emissivity (Average emissivity (ε‾) of AF plane of composite <0.1; Average emissivity (ε‾) of PPF plane of composite <0.5), the composite material enables the choice of presenting antifouling or thermal camouflage properties in different environments. This work provides another insight into the fabrication of flexible infrared camouflage materials while facilitating the exploration of flexible infrared camouflage materials.