High-temperature stability of pressureless-sintered ZrB2–SiC ceramic composites as concentrated solar light absorber
摘要
To develop more reliable bulk solar absorber materials, the ZrB2–SiC ceramic composites were synthesized via an economical method of pressureless sintering. The phase composition, microstructure, flexural strength and solar absorptance of the as-synthesized ZrB2–SiC ceramic composites were systematically investigated at both room temperature and elevated temperatures. The results showed that ZrB2–SiC ceramic composites exhibited good room-temperature performance with a flexural strength of 17.86 MPa and a solar absorptance of 85.7%. After oxidation at 1000 °C and 1100 °C for 100 h, a dense oxide layer characterized with ZrSiO4 particles embedding within a borosilicate glass phase was formed on surface of the sample, which reinforced the skeleton structure of the sample and significantly enhanced the flexural strength with increases of 46.0% and 99.6%, respectively. The solar absorptance of the sample after oxidation at 1000 °C and 1100 °C was decreased by 2.26% and 27.81%, respectively. The sharp decline of the solar absorptance after oxidation at 1100 °C was primarily attributed to the variation of the composition. The results demonstrated the excellent performance durability of the ZrB2–SiC ceramic composites in air below 1000 °C, highlighting their potential as high-temperature solar absorber materials.