Thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of fluorite-type porous (Ce0.2Zr0.2Ti0.2Sn0.2Ca0.2)O2-δ high-entropy ceramics

Thermal insulation materials must exhibit superior mechanical properties alongside exceptional thermal insulation conductivity. However, traditional porous ceramics often struggle to meet these dual requirements simultaneously. In high-entropy materials, the phonon scattering induced by lattice distortion effects can significantly reduce the thermal conductivity of ceramics, thus opening new avenues for the design of novel thermal insulation materials. Inspired by the high-entropy effect, this study employed solid-state reaction methods to synthesize (Ce_0.2Zr_0.2Ti_0.2Sn_0.2Ca_0.2)O_2−δ (CZTSC) high-entropy ceramics at various temperatures, investigating their phase constituents, microstructural characteristics, and mechanical properties, while exploring the optimal sintering temperature. Additionally, a pore-forming agent method was utilized to fabricate monophasic CZTSC porous ceramics with different porosities at 1400 °C. Specifically, when the pore-forming agent content was 20 wt%, the sample exhibited an apparent porosity of 42.82%, with a low thermal conductivity of 0.57 W·m^− 1·K^− 1, a low thermal diffusivity of 0.406 mm²·s^− 1, and a relatively high compressive strength of 32.49 MPa. The current investigation underscores the promising prospects of porous CZTSC ceramics in the field of thermal insulation.