Synergistic Effects between Multiphase Thermal Insulation Functional Phases on the Mechanical and Heat Insulation Properties of Silicone Rubber Composites

This work utilizes the synergistic effect between three different functional phases of thermal insulation, i.e., hollow ceramic microspheres (HCMs), hollow silica microspheres (HSMs), and hydroxy silicone oil blowing agent, to prepare a flexible and efficient thermal insulation composite with low thermal conductivity and high structural strength. First, the effects of the three phases on the mechanical and thermomechanical properties of silicon rubber (SR) were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a thermogravimetric (TG) analyzer, a thermal conductivity meter, and a universal testing machine, respectively. Then, the thermal insulation mechanism of multiphase thermal insulation composite materials was analyzed. The results show that the thermal stability and mechanical performance of composites were significantly enhanced, particularly for sample 18H, whose T_max and char yield reached 621.3 °C and 77.5%, respectively, representing a respective increase of 12.1 and 35.3% compared to those of pure SR. After heat treatment at 1000 °C, the linear shrinkage of the sample diameter was about 9.4%, while the thermal conductivity was as low as 0.064 W/(m·K), which was 53.2% lower than that of the pure matrix SR. We believe that this work can serve as a reference for the preparation of heat insulation and protection materials with low thermal conductivity and high structural strength.