Highly porous nano-SiC with very low thermal conductivity and excellent high temperature behavior

Highly porous nano-SiC is fabricated by partial sintering and decarburizing process using SiC nano-powders as starting materials and graphite flakes as pore forming agents. The prepared porous nano-SiC ceramics possess multiple pore structures, including well-distributed meso-pores in the skeleton and interconnected flakelike micro-pores. The samples prepared at 1800 °C have relatively low thermal conductivities of 5.61 ∼ 0.25 W m−1 K−1 with porosities of 55.5-76.1%. While the samples sintered at 1500 °C with porosities between 54.0% to 76.3% show very low thermal conductivities of 0.74 ∼ 0.14 W m−1 K−1, which is attributed to the integrated nano-scale phonon-scattering mechanisms and duplex pore structures. Porous nano-SiC ceramics also show good retention of elastic stiffness up to 1350 °C and low thermal conductivity at 1400 °C. Our results shed light on porous nano-SiC as a promising thermal insulator used in extreme thermal and chemical environments.