Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 224, 1775-1785 (2015)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2015-02498-3

Regular Article

SBA-15 mesoporous silica as a super insulating material

¹ Université de Strasbourg, Université de Haute Alsace, Equipe Matériaux à Porosité Contrôlée (MPC), Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse (IS2M), UMR CNRS 7361, ENSCMu, 3 bis rue Alfred Werner, 68093 Mulhouse Cedex, France
² Equipe Ingénierie des Matériaux et Métallurgie, Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel, CNRS UMR 6502, Université de Nantes, rue Christian Pauc, BP. 50609, 44306 Nantes Cedex 3, France
³ Equipe des Polymères et Composites, Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Matériaux de Bretagne, EA 4250, Université de Bretagne Sud, rue de Saint-Maudé, 56321 Lorient Cedex, France

^a e-mail: benedicte.lebeau@uha.fr

Received: 25 November 2014
Revised: 21 May 2015
Published online: 30 July 2015

Abstract

The thermal insulation behavior of ordered mesoporous silica SBA-15 aggregates heat treated at 300 ^∘C was studied. An important decrease in the effective thermal conductivity according to the increase of the apparent density was observed. A thermal conductivity value less than 25 mW.m⁻¹.K⁻¹ was reached during the compaction phenomenon. Results of thermal conductivity were correlated to the electron microscopy observations and physicochemical data (X-ray diffraction, adsorption/desorption of nitrogen volumetric measurements). These thermal properties make these materials very promising for thermal insulation applications, especially with values inferior to the thermal conductivity of air.