Elastic yttria-stabilized zirconia nanofibrous aerogels for high-temperature thermal insulation

Abstract The competition in large-scale space development has intensified in recent years. Hypersonic vehicle rivalry has now become a matter of national strategic security. The extremely harsh external environment they encounter during flight poses hitherto unprecedented challenges to thermal insulation materials, a pivotal supporting technology. There is, thus, an urgent need for a new generation of thermal insulation materials to achieve a qualitative leap in thermal protection performance. We developed self-template yttrium-stabilized zirconia ceramic nanofiber aerogels (ST-6YSZ CNFAs) with a layered structure. After calcination at 1300 °C, they maintain strong mechanical properties, exhibit low thermal conductivity (0.0297 W·m −1 K −1 ), and endure thousands of large deformations without breaking. These attributes make ST-6YSZ CNFAs highly suitable for thermal insulation in extreme environments.