Effect of Fumed Titanium Oxide on Thermal Stability of Nano-Silica Thermal Insulating Composites
This work investigated the effects of fumed titanium oxide on thermal stability of nano-silica thermal insulating composites prepared by dry process. The results showed that the composites could keep excellent thermal stability at the temperatures below 800°C. However, when the samples were used at higher temperatures (>800°C), the volume shrinkage increased sharply, which directly led to a serious deformation and then affected thermal insulating properties in applications. The utilization of fumed titanium oxide could significantly improve thermal stability of the composites. When 10wt% fumed titanium oxide was added, the service temperature can increase from 800°C to 900°C. The desirable results would be achieved by adjusting the amount of additives according to practical using temperature. In addition, field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were employed to characterize the microstructure and phase transformations of the composites treated at different temperatures.