A new ENEA patent to produce fiber-reinforced ceramics from fabrics and polymers

Higher energy efficiency and security can be achieved by producing thermo-insulating, fire-resistant panels and engine inserts

Applications of ceramic composites have so far been limited to a few sectors only, e.g. aerospace and nuclear energy, where higher performance was largely prevailing over production schedule and costs. Hence, in order to expand such applications also to the manufacturing sector, ENEA researchers have focused on developing an industry-oriented process. This aims at exploiting existing facilities, or some new ones which could be directly purchased by small- and medium-sized enterprises, with a view to producing objects that can integrate functionality and aesthetics, based on specific market requests. Achieving such a target has meant identifying a novel “enabling technology”, namely the “preceramic prepregs”. “Prepregs” are polymer-preimpregnated fabrics, largely used in Italy too, as raw materials to produce simple- or complex-shaped, polymeric-composite objects by hand lay-up or thermal pressing. These existing manufacturing companies have been provided with a new type of “preceramic” prepreg which, unlike polymeric composites, makes products resistant to high temperatures. Preceramic prepregs can be processed conventionally to the end product, with the only difference that it needs a final high-temperature consolidation in an inert environment (pyrolysis). Such final consolidation does not affect much the overall production costs, yet it offers the product a vast range of new potential applications in the transport and building sectors, where thermal insulation, reinforced and light-weight structures, and fire-resistance are key aspects.

Actually, these composites are low-cost, light-weight (with a density lower than twice that of water), able to provide thermal insulation and mechanical reinforcement up to a temperature of 600°C, being totally fire-resistant up to a temperature of 1200°C. According to their inventors, such higher-performance materials are perfectly suitable to obtain such products as, e.g.,  internal-combustion engine inserts, battery slots and boxes for power electronics, reinforcing and insulating fire-resistant panels for buildings, and internal panels for ships and trains.

These new technologies have been developed in close collaboration with Riba Composites srl (Faenza) and already tested on industrial facilities. The above processes have been the object of two patents, one entirely hold by ENEA (inventor: Claudio Mingazzini) and the other 50% shared by ENEA (inventor: Claudio Mingazzini) and Riba Composites (inventor: Andrea Bedeschi).

Source: Claudio Mingazzini, Technical Unit for Materials Technologies – Faenza Research Centre, claudio.mingazzini@enea.it