Structural morphology evolution and characterization of electrospun magnesium aluminum silicate ceramic micro-nanofibers: A study

This paper reports the facile preparation of magnesium alumina silicate ceramic micro-nanofibers (MNFs) through electrospinning technique . A comprehensive investigation into the thermal decomposition behavior, crystallization process , and structural morphology evolution of the MNFs was conducted. Following annealing at 1000 ℃, the magnesium aluminum silicate ceramic MNFs exhibit a desirable morphology, with diameters ranged from 0.656 to 1.297 μm, and a multi-phased nature comprising MgAl 2 Si 4 O 12 , MgAl 2 O 4 , MgO·Al 2 O 3 ·SiO 2 and amorphous SiO 2 . The amorphous SiO 2 mitigated the thermal decomposition and affected the microstructure during fiber densification by acting as a viscous phase. Upon comparison of different heat-treatment processes, structure defects were observed to undergo self-healing through viscous phase sintering under an appropriate heat-treatment procedure, particularly with a midway insulation for 3 h at 400 ℃. The tensile strength of 1.68 ±0.43 MPa and the thermal conductivity of the investigated MNFs (0.0288–0.0305 W·m −1 ·K −1 ) suggested that the obtained magnesium aluminum silicate ceramic MNFs have significant potential for use in high temperature environments, particularly for thermal insulation and protection.