Thermal Insulation Composite Prepared from Carbon Foam and Silica Aerogel Under Ambient Pressure.

Carbon foam/silica aerogel composite as a promising thermal insulation material was prepared under ambient pressure successfully in the present work. Carbon foam was prepared by pretreatment, foaming, and carbonization process, while silica aerogel was synthesized by sol-gel method. The microstructure, morphology characteristics, compression strength, and thermal properties of composite were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, universal testing machine, and laser flash thermal detector, respectively. Results showed that silica aerogel was successfully synthesized in the surface foam cells of carbon foam due to the closed cell structure of carbon foam. Moreover, the compressive strength of the carbon foam was not affected by the silica aerogel in the cell structure of carbon foam, while its thermal insulation property at room temperature was improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]