Wearable Aramid-Ceramic Aerogel Composite for Harsh Environment

High-performance lightweight polymer fibers are attracting significant interest for wearable systems, where its thermal insulation performance is indispensable for harsh environments. However, one drawback of polymer fibers is its limited operating temperature range. Herein, a crosslinked poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) fiber and ceramic aerogel nanocomposite is reported, exhibiting hot and cold thermal management from cryogenic to high-temperature condition (over 400 degrees C) and robust mechanical performance, which can be produced using additive textile manufacturing. The resulting ceramic aerogel nanocomposites demonstrate a low density (0.08 g cm(-3)), a low thermal conductivity (0.034 W m(-1) K-1), and a high compressive mechanical strength of 1.1 MPa, due to the crosslinked interfacial interaction between the aramid fiber and the silica aerogel. A finite-element model is developed to study the compression performance of aramid-aerogel composite, demonstrating that the robust mechanical performance is strengthened by interfacial bonding. These findings demonstrate that composite sheets are promising candidates for the low-cost manufacturing of wearable textiles for applications in harsh environments.