Preparation and characteristics of spinnable sol and continuous mullite fibers with nano silica addition

The spinning precursor sols for the continuous mullite-based fibers were prepared by adding nano-silica to substitute part of silica sol. The effect of SiO₂ nanoparticles on the particle evolution models, polymerization degree and solid content of the sol,and the spinning length and sintering behavior of the fibers was investigated. The results were shown that the addition of nano silica enhanced the polymerization degree and extended the spinnable range of the sol. The appropriate polymerization degree (B value) for this sol system was 1.885–2.145. The grain diameter decreased from 39.6 to 25.9 nm with increasing the nano-silica content to 20 %, and then, it increased to 41.2 nm with increasing the nano-silica content to 100 %. The appropriate content of nano-silica powders would reduce the grain diameter. However, it had no influence on the linear growth model, homogeneity and solid content of the precursor sol.