Ceramic fibers are small-size filaments or threads composed of ceramic materials, the main components of which are usually Al2O3 and SiO2. Alfa Chemistry offers a range of ceramic fiber products for light-weight material solutions.
Introduction
Ceramic fiber, also known as aluminum silicate fiber, is a new type of lightweight refractory material. Ceramic fibers come in two forms, continuous (long) and discontinuous (short). Ceramic fibers can be divided into oxide and non-oxide ceramic fibers, which are used as reinforcements for composites.
Features
Ceramic fibers have the features such as:
- Light weight
- High temperature resistance
- Low thermal conductivity
- Good thermal stability
- Corrosion resistance
- Creep resistance
- Good microstructural stability
- Small specific heat
- Mechanical vibration resistance
Therefore, they have been widely used in machinery, metallurgy, chemical industry, petroleum, ceramics, glass, electronics and other industries.
Classification
- Ceramic Oxide Fiber
Typical compositions of these oxide fibers are Al2O3, Al2O3/SiO2 or Al2O3/SiO2/B2O3 mixtures. - Ceramic Nonoxide Fiber
Non-oxide fibers are often described by their constituent elements, as they contain distinct phases and do not have a uniform stoichiometry. Well-known filament fiber compositions are: SiC, Si-C-O, Si-C-N, Si-C-N-O, and Si-B-C-N. Although these fibers can contain a certain amount of oxygen, they do not form typical oxides in the structure and are therefore "non-oxides". Typical ceramic non-oxide fibers include silicon carbide (SiC) fibers and boron-based fibers.
Production Techniques
There are several production techniques for ceramic fibers:
- CVD technique
- Melt spinning technique
- Slurry spinning
- Chemical conversion
- Polymer-derived precursor method
- Sol-gel process
- Single-crystal fiber growth technique
Fabrication of ceramic fiber with centrifugal spinning [1]
It is worth noting that, considering the production efficiency and cost, there are also some advanced ceramic fiber technologies commonly used in scientific research. [1]
- Centrifugal Spinning
- Electrospinning
- Solution Blow Spinning
- Self-assembly
- Atomic Layer Deposition
Applications
Ceramic fibers are mainly used in two fields of application: first as thermal insulation material and second for the reinforcement of metals or ceramics. Non-oxide fibers could in future applications substitute carbon fibers, which are also used for ceramic reinforcement, for instance in C/SiC materials. In addition, the effect of ceramic fibers on mechanical properties in other materials has also been explored in some studies. For example, Duoqi Shi et al. studied the effect of ceramic fibers on the high temperature compression properties of SiO2 aerogels. The results show that the modified material exhibits anisotropic mechanical properties.[2]
Microstructure of ceramic-fiber-reinforced SiO2 aerogel. (a) In-planedirectionmicrostructure, (b) out-of-planedirectionmicrostructure
References
- Chao Jia, et al. Advanced Fiber Materials, 2022, 4, 573–603.
- Duoqi Shi, et al. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 2013, 585, 25-31.
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