Ultralight carbon fiber felt reinforced monolithic carbon aerogel composites with excellent thermal insulation performance

Monolithic carbon aerogel composites with low density have been prepared from phenolic resin as a reactive precursor and ultralight and hyper-elastic carbon fiber felt as a soft reinforcement by a low-cost ambient pressure drying approach. During carbonization, the felt shrinks collaboratively with the phenolic aerogel so that the typical shrinkage mismatch between fibers and matrix can be overcome. Therefore, a robust, crack-free and large-size carbon fiber reinforced carbon aerogel composite was obtained, which has a low density (0.16 g cm(-3)), high compressive strength (0.93 MPa), extremely low thermal conductivity (0.03 Wm(-1)K(-1)) and outstanding ultrahigh temperature thermal insulation performance. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Monolithic carbon aerogel composites with low density were prepared from phenolic resin as a reactive precursor and ultralight and hyper-elastic carbon fiber felt as a soft reinforcement by a low-cost ambient pressure drying approach. The obtained composite showed low density, high compressive strength, extremely low thermal conductivity, and outstanding ultrahigh temperature thermal insulation performance.