Facile Preparation of High Strength Silica Aerogel Composites via a Water Solvent System and Ambient Pressure Drying without Surface Modification or Solvent Replacement

To further reduce the manufacturing cost and improve safety, silica aerogel composites (SAC) with low density and low thermal conductivity synthesized via ambient pressure drying (APD) technology have gradually become one of the most focused research areas. As a solvent, ethanol is flammable and needs to be replaced by other low surface tension solvents, which is dangerous and time-consuming. Therefore, the key steps of solvent replacement and surface modification in the APD process need to be simplified. Here, we demonstrate a facile strategy for preparing high strength mullite fiber reinforced SAC, which is synthesized by APD using water as a solvent, rather than using surface modification or solvent replacement. The effects of the fiber density on the physical properties, mechanical properties, and thermal conductivities of SAC are discussed in detail. The results show that when the fiber density of SAC is 0.24 g/cm(3), the thermal conductivity at 1100 °C is 0.127 W/m·K, and the compressive strength at 10% strain is 1.348 MPa. Because of the simple synthesis process and excellent thermal-mechanical performance, the SAC is expected to be used as an efficient and economical insulation material.