The experimental results of the thermal conductivities of xonotlite-type calcium silicate insulation materials were pre-sented at different temperatures and pressures. Two appropriative surroundings, i.e. an elevated temperature surrounding from ambi-ent temperature to 1450 K and a vacuum surrounding from atmosphere pressure to 10-3 Pa, were designed for the transient hot-strip (THS) method. The thermal conductivities of xonotlite-type calcium silicate with four densities from ambient temperature to 1000 K and 0.045 Pa to atmospheric pressure were measured. The results show that the thermal conductivity of xonotlite-type calcium sili-cate decreases apparently with the fall of density, and decreases apparently with the drop of pressure, and reaches the least value at about 100 Pa. The thermal conductivity of xonotlite-type calcium silicate increases almost linearly with T3, and increases more abundantly with low density than with high density. The thermal conductivity measurement uncertainty is estimated to be approxi-mately 3% at ambient temperature, and 6% at 800 K.
A 3-dimensional unit cell model is developed for analyzing effective thermal conductivity of xonotlite-aerogelcomposite insulation material based on its microstructure features. Effective thermal conductivity comparisonsbetween xonotlite-type calcium silicate and aerogel as well as xonotlite-aerogel composite insulation material arepresented. It is shown that the density of xonotlite-type calcium silicate is the key factor affecting the effectivethermal conductivity of xonotlite-aerogel composite insulation material, and the density of aerogel has little influence.The effective thermal conductivity can be lowered greatly by composite of the two materials at an elevatedtemperature.
