Thermal Insulation and Moisture Resistance of High‐Performance Silicon Aerogel Composite Foam Ceramic and Foam Glass

Abstract

With the globalization of green energy‐saving buildings, improving the thermal insulation performance of building exterior walls has become an important breakthrough in reducing building energy consumption. And the building envelope to improve insulation properties as a starting point for energy saving. Herein, a new type of material with excellent heat insulation and moisture resistance is developed. Hence, the sol–gel process, high‐pressure impregnation as well as supercritical drying are used to synthesize foam ceramic composite SiO2 aerogel (FC@SA) and foam glass composite SiO2 aerogel (FG@SA) materials. While maintaining the porous nanostructure of the aerogel, the aerogel is filled and embedded in the pores of the foamed material by a high‐pressure impregnation method. The thermal conductivity of FC@SA and FG@SA are, respectively, 0.04159 and 0.04424 W (m K)−1 at 25 °C, which are 36.02% and 23.72% lower than foam ceramic and foam glass. FC@SA reached water saturation (49%) in 48 h, while it took 72 h for FG@SA to reach water saturation (38%). Therefore, the composite building material prepared by embedding nano‐aerogel into ceramic foam and foam glass has great potential in the insulation material of building fence structures.