Bubble-filled silica microfibers from multiphasic flows for lightweight composite fabrication

Hollow spherical shells made of various oxides have long been used as filler materials to prepare lightweight materials with high specific strength. We present the fabrication of bubble-filled silica microfibers with controlled size and structure by using multiphase flow in a coaxial glass capillary device. The multiphase flow is controlled to generate a jetting gas-in-water-in-oil core-sheath stream, which is converted to flexible nanoparticle-polymer composite fibers filled with bubbles. The production rate of these bubble fibers can reach up to 2000 cm/min. These flexible fibers can be manipulated to desired shapes or architectures and subsequently be sintered via thermal treatment. We demonstrate the fabrication of bubble fiber-filled light weight composite, which potentially has a significant advantage over conventional light-weight composites made with spherical hollow particles. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.