Synthesis and Thermal Conductivities of the Biomorphic Al2O3 Fibers Derived from Silk Template

Silk was used as the template to prepare biomorphic Al2O3 fibers. Silk fibers were first immersed into an AlCl3 solution and then sintered at high temperatures to produce the final Al2O3 fibers. Their microstructures, phases, synthesis process, infrared absorption spectra, and thermal conductivity were analyzed. The results show that these Al2O3 fibers retained the morphologies of silk. Different from the traditional Al2O3 fibers, these biomorphic fibers exhibit hollow and possess a good ability of absorbing infrared got from the silk, so that they possessed better heat-insulating property than the traditional Al2O3 fibers.