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With the development of hypersonic vehicle technology, ceramic-based radome materials are highly demanded due to their high operating temperatures, good dielectric properties, and high mechanical properties. Although α-SiAlON is an ideal material for radome applications, its intrinsic low transmittance and high thermal conductivity limit its applications. Herein, we prepared Y–α-SiAlON porous ceramics through tert-butanol (TBA) gel-casting using the self-synthesized α-SiAlON powder. The Y–α-SiAlON porous ceramics exhibited a uniform micron-level connected pore structure with the porosity (P) of 44.2%–58.6%. The real part of permittivity ( ε) was 3.13–4.18 (8.2–12.4 GHz), which decreased significantly with the increasing porosity. The wave transmittance ( |T|2) of the sample with porosity of 58.6% could exceed 80% in the thickness range of 6–10 mm. The thermal conductivity was maintained at a low level of 1.38–2.25 W·m−1·K−1 owing to the introduction of the pore structure. The flexural strength was 44.73–88.33 MPa, which may be increased by rod-like α-SiAlON grains. The results indicate that the prepared Y–α-SiAlON porous ceramics meet the requirements of high-temperature wave-transmitting materials for radome applications.


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High wave transmittance and low thermal conductivity Y–α-SiAlON porous ceramics for high-temperature radome applications

Show Author's information Runwu YangaJie Xua,b( )Jia GuoaXuanyu MengaPing ZhangaFengying FanaYanan QucFeng Gaoa,b
State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, MIIT Key Laboratory of Radiation Detection Materials and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
NPU–QMUL Joint Research Institute of Advanced Materials and Structure, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
Railway Engineering Research Institute, China Academy of Railway Sciences Corporation Limited, Beijing 100081, China

Abstract

With the development of hypersonic vehicle technology, ceramic-based radome materials are highly demanded due to their high operating temperatures, good dielectric properties, and high mechanical properties. Although α-SiAlON is an ideal material for radome applications, its intrinsic low transmittance and high thermal conductivity limit its applications. Herein, we prepared Y–α-SiAlON porous ceramics through tert-butanol (TBA) gel-casting using the self-synthesized α-SiAlON powder. The Y–α-SiAlON porous ceramics exhibited a uniform micron-level connected pore structure with the porosity (P) of 44.2%–58.6%. The real part of permittivity ( ε) was 3.13–4.18 (8.2–12.4 GHz), which decreased significantly with the increasing porosity. The wave transmittance ( |T|2) of the sample with porosity of 58.6% could exceed 80% in the thickness range of 6–10 mm. The thermal conductivity was maintained at a low level of 1.38–2.25 W·m−1·K−1 owing to the introduction of the pore structure. The flexural strength was 44.73–88.33 MPa, which may be increased by rod-like α-SiAlON grains. The results indicate that the prepared Y–α-SiAlON porous ceramics meet the requirements of high-temperature wave-transmitting materials for radome applications.

Keywords: flexural strength, thermal conductivity, α-SiAlON, porous ceramics, wave-transmittance materials

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Publication history

Received: 06 February 2023
Revised: 14 April 2023
Accepted: 16 April 2023
Published: 29 May 2023
Issue date: June 2023

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© The Author(s) 2023

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the International Cooperation Foundation of Shaanxi Province, China (No. 2022KW-34), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52072301, 51908551, and 52272123), State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics & Fine Processing, Tsinghua University (No. KFZD202102), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. D5000210722), Guangxi Science and Technology Plan Project (No. Gui Ke AB22035043), and State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (No. P2023-003). We would like to acknowledge the Analytical & Testing Center, Northwestern Polytechnical University for the XRD, SEM, and other analyses.

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