Optimized mechanical properties and thermal insulation capacity of foam glass through K2Ti6O13 whiskers addition

作者：Liu, Hao^*; Tang, Mingyu; Wang, Zhoufu; Liu, Wenyuan; Ma, Yan; Wang, Xitang

来源：Journal of the Australian Ceramic Society, 2022, 58(4): 1241-1248.

DOI：10.1007/s41779-022-00761-y

• Foam glass
• Potassium hexatitanate whisker
• Mechanical properties
• Thermal conductivity

The fracture toughness and thermal insulation capacity of foam glass are of critical importance for its application as insulation lining of industrial flue, pipeline, and buildings. However, the nonuniform pore size distribution, significant brittleness, and low ability to hinder infrared radiation transfer lowered its mechanical properties and thermal insulation capacity. Therefore, the present work introduced a small amount of K2Ti6O13 whiskers (PTW) into foam glass to overcome these problems. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and thermal insulation ability of PTW containing foam glass were investigated. The results show that the introduced PTW improved the pore size distribution uniformity during the foaming process. The controlled structure and inhibited crack propagation by PTW contributed to the significantly enhanced mechanical strength and fracture toughness. Porosity was the key factor affecting the thermal insulation ability of samples at low temperatures, while the thermal conductivity of samples at above 400 celcius was greatly decreased owing to the high infrared radiation reflectance of the introduced PTW. Compared with foam glass without PTW addition, both the maximum cold modulus of rupture (5.1 MPa) and optimized thermal conductivity (0.044-0.061 W/m center dot K at 25-800 celcius) were obtained in the sample added with 5 wt.% PTW foamed at 820 celcius. The researched high mechanical strength, fracture toughness, and thermal insulation foam glass exhibit huge prospects as insulation lining in the practical engineering fields.