Fabrication, Thermal and Sound Absorption Properties of Porous Polyimide Reinforcing by SiO2 Nanoparticles

Abstract Special requirements of the service environment put forward higher requirements for the comprehensive performances of porous sound-absorbing materials. In this study, the polyimide/nano-SiO 2 composite foams were prepared based via the sol-gel and foaming methods. The effect of different addition of SiO 2 nanoparticles on the pore structure, sound absorption properties as well as the thermal properties of polyimide/SiO 2 nanocomposite foams are studied. Results indicate that: the addition of the nano-SiO 2 particles not only could improve the thermal stability of the composites, but also increase the sound absorption performances. Particularly, the samples with 2% addition of SiO 2 nanoparticles shows the optimal thermal and sound absorption performance. Therefore, adding the SiO 2 nanoparticles into the polyimide foams is an efficient way to improve its thermal and sound absorption performance, which would give insights into designing sound-absorbing materials with excellent comprehensive performance to curb the noise pollution.