Enhanced mechanical and thermal properties of anisotropic fibrous porous mullite–zirconia composites produced using sol-gel impregnation

Abstract

A new lightweight and thermal insulating material was successfully prepared by impregnating Al2O3–SiO2 aerogel into a porous mullite–zirconia fiber network with a quasi-layered microstructure. The microstructures, thermal and mechanical properties of the porous mullite–zirconia ceramics were investigated before and after the impregnating of Al2O3–SiO2 aerogel. It was observed that the mullite and zirconia fibers combined well with aerogels. Compared with fibrous porous mullite-zirconia ceramics, the Al2O3–SiO2 aerogel/porous mullite–zirconia composite exhibited higher compressive strength (i.e. 1.36 MPa in the z direction) and lower thermal conductivity (i.e. 0.052 W/(m·K)). The present work provides an efficient way to fabricate highly porous ceramics with high strength and ultra-low thermal conductivity, which find potential use in high-temperature thermal insulation materials.