Fabrication and characterization of aluminum silicate fiber–reinforced hollow mesoporous silica microspheres composites

Aluminum silicate fiber (ASF)/hollow mesoporous silica microspheres (HMSM) composites were fabricated by a vacuum filtration technique, followed by pressureless sintering at 1100 °C. Properties namely: bulk density, microstructure, mechanical strength and thermal conductivity were investigated with the ASF content. Results showed that bulk density of the resultant composites increased from 0.17 to 0.26 g/cm3 with the increase of ASF content, and the ASF was intimately bonded to the HMSM matrix. When the ASF content was 15 wt.%, the composites exhibited the highest compressive strength (5.07 MPa) and flexural strength (3.32 MPa), then the mechanical strength decreased on further addition (20 wt.%). The thermal conductivity of composites ranged from 0.048 to 0.081 W/(m K) at room temperature, which makes aluminum silicate fiber/hollow mesoporous silica microspheres composites a promising choice for thermal insulation.

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► Aluminum silicate fiber/hollow silica microspheres composites were fabricated.
► Properties of the composites as a function of the fiber content were studied.
► Mechanical strength first increases and then decreases with the fiber content.
► Final product has low density and excellent thermal insulating property.