Enhanced Thermal Insulation of the Hollow Glass Microsphere/Glass Fiber Fabric Textile Composite Material

Abstract

Glass fiber fabrics/hollow glass microspheres (HGM)–waterborne polyurethane (WPU) textile composites were prepared using glass fiber, WPU, and HGM as skeleton material, binder, and insulation filler, respectively, to study the effect of HGM on the thermal insulation performance of glass fiber fabrics. Scanning electron microscopy, Instron 3367 tensile test instrument, thermal constant analysis, and infrared thermal imaging were used to determine the cross-sectional morphology, mechanical property, thermal conductivity, and thermal insulation property, respectively, of the developed materials. The results show that the addition of HGM mixed in WPU significantly enhanced thermal insulation performance of the textile composite with the reduction of thermal conductivity of 45.2% when the volume ratio of HGM to WPU is 0.8 compared with that of material without HGM. The composite can achieve the thermal insulation effect with a temperature difference of 17.74 °C at the temperature field of 70 °C. Meanwhile, the tensile strength of the composite is improved from 14.16 to 22.14 MPa. With these results, it is confirmed that designing hollow glass microspheres (HGM) is an effective way to develop and enhance the high performance of insulation materials with an obvious lightweight of the bulk density reaching about 50%.

Electrical properties of polymer blend composites based on Silicone rubber/EPDM/clay for high voltage insulators

“…The hardness and density of SR were 70 (Shore A) and 1.18 g/cm 3 , respectively. EPDM (commercial name: KEP 270) was supplied from Kumho Polychem Co., Ltd., Korea; its Mooney viscosity (ML (1 + 4) at 125 °C) was 70 along with a density of 0.86 g/ cm 3 , with a 4.5%ethylene norbornene content and ethylene content of 57.0%. Dicumyl peroxide (DCP; Hercules Inc., USA) with 98% purity was used as the curing agent and the nanoclay was Cloisite 15A fabricated by Southern Clay, USA.…”

“…Nevertheless, under humid conditions, it retains moisture and serves as a weak insulator [1]. Because of its potential to have enhanced thermal, electrical, and mechanical characteristics and offering promising properties related to each component [2][3][4][5][6], polymer nanocomposites design is an exciting field of advanced science [7]. While employing polymer nanocomposites in the electrical insulating technology sector has started recently, due to their strong dielectric capabilities, lightweight, better pollution efficiency, low price, and easy production, polymeric materials have provided various benefits to external insulation systems [8].…”

Improvement of insulation properties of glass fiber fabric/epoxy composites modified by polymeric and inorganic fillers

“…The inclusion of additives and fillers in polymer composite materials allows their use in a wide variety of applications. [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] Differently from the current literature, different fillers such as HGMs, PS microfiber membrane and PS solution have been included into glass fiber fabric epoxy composite in order to improve both sound absorption insulation and thermal insulation. PS is one of the most widely used materials in polymer industry due to its lightweight, low cost, and resistance against mechanical impacts.…”

“…[43][44][45][46] HGMs, also called bubbles or microbubbles, are generally used as reinforcing materials in a polymer matrix due its some desirable properties such as lightness, low-thermal conductivity, and low-dielectric constant due to its hollow structure. [47][48][49] As can be seen from above literatures, [35][36] nanofiber and microfiber membranes improve the sound absorption insulation properties of knitted fabric and nonwoven fabric structures due to decreased fiber diameter and increased specific surface area. [37,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] On the otherhand, nanofiber and microfiber membrane have been used as a filler to improve the mechanical properties of fiber-based epoxy composite, as far as we know, it has not been investigated to improve the insulation properties of fiber-based epoxy composite.…”

“…[47][48][49] As can be seen from above literatures, [35][36] nanofiber and microfiber membranes improve the sound absorption insulation properties of knitted fabric and nonwoven fabric structures due to decreased fiber diameter and increased specific surface area. [37,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] On the otherhand, nanofiber and microfiber membrane have been used as a filler to improve the mechanical properties of fiber-based epoxy composite, as far as we know, it has not been investigated to improve the insulation properties of fiber-based epoxy composite. In this study, microfiber membrane has been used as a filler in order to improve insulation properties glass fiber fabric/epoxy composite.…”