C. Robinson, D. Sondee, W. Heldt-Rowe
American Nano, North Carolina, United States
Keywords: thermal insulation, thermal barrier, high-temperature material
Herein we report a novel high-temperature resistant material comprised of high purity amorphous silica fibers. The lightweight fibrous non-woven material is manufactured via a patented, scalable process. The purest fibrous form of the material exhibits a thermal conductivity of 0.017 W/m-K @ 268 ⁰C, thus demonstrating excellent thermal insulation. After heat treatment at low temperatures, the fiber batches consistently showed no outgassing issues, with minimal to no overall ‘Total Mass Loss’ and ‘Water Vapor Regain’. Morphological and chemical analyses (using scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, powder x-ray diffraction and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy) revealed that the properties of sheets, which consisted of a network of smooth rods based on an amorphous silica matrix, were consistent. In addition, the fibers can be transformed into powdered forms with different aspect ratios or hard materials with a variety of shapes as needed to support many applications including aerospace-grade encapsulation seals and thermal and cryogenic regulation/insulation. It has potential applications in smart textiles/fabrics or flame-resistant coatings markets, enabling multi-material fiber applications by layering or blending with other nanomaterials or forming composites. The material potentially meets the needs of a broad range of commercial industry and military applications.