%0 Journal Article
%T Significantly Enhanced Mechanical, Thermal, and Ablative Properties of the Lightweight Carbon Fabric/Phenol-Formaldehyde Resin/Siloxane Aerogels Ternary Interpenetrating Network.
%A Zhang J
%A Yin R
%A Fan Z
%A Zhou X
%A Cheng H
%A Hong C
%A Zhang X
%J ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
%V 16
%N 29
%D 2024 Jul 24
%M 38980947
%F 10.383
%R 10.1021/acsami.4c06783
%X Lightweight ablative thermal protection materials (TPMs), which can resist long-term ablation in an oxidizing atmosphere, are urgently required for aerospace vehicles. Herein, carbon fabric/phenol-formaldehyde resin/siloxane aerogels (CF/PFA/SiA) nanocomposite with interpenetrating network multiscale structure was developed via simple and efficient sol-gel followed by atmospheric pressure drying. The ternary networks structurally interpenetrating in macro-, micron-, and the nanoscales, chemically cross-linking at the molecular scale, and silica layer generated by in situ heating synergistically bring about low density (∼0.3 g cm-3), enhanced mechanical properties, thermal stability, and oxidation resistance, and a low thermal conductivity of 81 mW m-1 K-1. More intriguingly, good thermal protection with near-zero surface recession at 1300 °C for 300 s and remarkable thermal insulation with a back-side temperature below 60 °C at 20 mm thickness. The interpenetrating network strategy can be extended to other porous components with excellent high-temperature properties, such as ZrO2 and SiC, which will facilitate the improvement of lightweight ablative TPMs. Moreover, it may open a new avenue for fabricating multifunctional binary, ternary, and even multiple interpenetrating network materials.