Fabrication of light‐weight ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene films with hybrid porous structure and the thermal insulation properties

Abstract According to the infrared stealth mechanism, controlling the surface temperature of objects can effectively hide the infrared radiation and resist the infrared detection. In this paper, a high infrared transparent polymer ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is selected as the matrix of a thermal insulation material. UHMWPE porous films with high porosity and hybrid pore structure are obtained through the thermal induced phase separation combining with particle leaching method. The film structures with micropores and macropores are adjusted through the variation of the mass ratio of UHMWPE/liquid paraffin, the dosage and the particle size of NaCl. The thermal conductivity of the UHMWPE film is as low as 0.034 W/(m K), while the density is only 54.4 mg/cm 3 . The classical Maxwell‐Eucken model is used to discuss the relationship between the pore structure and the thermal conductivity of the films. It is determined that the hybrid porous structure can reduce heat conduction and gas–solid coupling effect simultaneously, thus the thermal conductivity is significantly reduced. Moreover, the porous films exhibited remarkable flexibility and hydrophobicity. Based on these properties, the porous films are highly promising in the field of thermal insulation protection and infrared stealth.