High temperature and high strength Y2Zr2O7 flexible fibrous membrane for efficient heat insulation and acoustic absorption

Abstract At high temperatures, lightweight ceramic and aerogel materials have serious problems such as volume shrinkage, increased density, loss of flexibility, and decreased thermal insulation performances. The research on high-performance, lightweight, and flexible materials, which can meet the requirements of high-temperature applications, is a challenging topic in the industry. In this work, we developed a defective fluorite phase Y2Zr2O7 flexible fibrous membrane (YZFM) material which has excellent thermal stability, no phase change until 1200°C, and excellent flexibility until 1200°C. The dense single fiber structure results in the tensile strength of the YZFM as high as 8.27 MPa. The low density (44 mg/cm3), high porosity (99.2%), and excellent heat radiation reflectivity (750-2500 nm: Avg. 96.34%) endow the YZFM with outstanding thermal insulation performance (the thermal conductivity: 38 mW m-1 K-1). The 30 mm thick YZFM can reduce the high temperature of 1260°C to 185°C. The anisotropic layered structure makes YZFM have better acoustic absorption performance than commercial materials. These robust performances make our YZFM suitable for fields with strict requirements on material usage conditions, such as aerospace and cutting-edge industries.