Preparation of composites with integrated thermal insulation and mechanical properties using mixture design and multi-objective optimization methods

Abstract

In order to break through the difficulty of balancing the thermal insulation and mechanical properties of composites, a mathematical model of the effects of thermal insulation fillers and reinforcing fibers on the thermal insulation and mechanical properties of composites was proposed using a mixture design approach. The synergistic interaction between fillers was investigated. Multi-objective optimization method was used to optimize the formulation under specific conditions. The optimized composites were prepared with a low thermal conductivity of 0.108 W m−1 K−1, and the compressive and flexural strengths reached 111.098 MPa and 26.985 MPa, respectively. Meanwhile, the tests showed that the composites had excellent thermal insulation effect and thermal stability.