断熱技術：工業炉の排熱削減に寄与する高強度高断熱性多孔質セラミックスの開発

抄録

Recently, there has been increasing demand for improved energy efficiency of industrial furnaces such as ceramic sintering at elevated temperatures. In order to enhance the energy efficiency, it is necessary to reduce waste heat toward the outside of furnaces. Here, we have developed highly porous ceramic thermal insulators fabricated by the novel gelation freezing method; gelation of ceramic raw powder dispersed slurry, the freezing, drying under vacuum to cause the sublimation of ice crystals and then sintering. The energy efficiency of prototype furnaces using highly porous ceramic thermal insulators we developed is higher than that of commercial furnaces with conventional insulators.