Aerogel: The Ultimate in Insulation Now Becoming Affordable.

**Beast 71** · 02-13-2010, 03:38

Originally Posted by Cannibal

OK, who wrote this article? A teenager from the 80s?

Hey come off it Cannibal ! That video was like totally way rad

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**WarmSoda** · 02-17-2010, 10:40

Originally Posted by NCPatrick

What does it taste like? Oh uhmmm sorry. <slinks off>

This thread has had me reading scientific papers about aerogels for days now. To sum it up, aerogels originally are the solid blocks, like the blueish wafer that someone was holding in the video. These blocks are basically a lattice of silicone formed in such a way as to have large air pockets formed inside. These are extremely lightweight, but brittle and will shatter into a powder under compression. Think of the green foam used to hold fake flowers in the vase.

The flexible mat is made by taking the powder and layering it between sheets of fiberglass. This increases the weight dramatically, but it is compressible and retains much of the insulating abilities.

Another group was trying to make the original aerogels stronger and not so brittle. They came up with a stronger material, but now it only insulates as well as styrofoam.

**phatpenguin** · 02-17-2010, 11:52

The nanogel Aerogel blanket has the most possibilities. Looks like it is about half a pound per square meter (at 3mm thickness) but with very low conductivity, even when compressed. Now if only I could get them to send me a roll (20 inches wide, 100 meters long) for some tests

http://www.cabot-corp.com/Aerogel/Apparel/Performance
http://www.cabot-corp.com/Aerogel/Ap...r+and+apparel/
http://www.cabot-corp.com/wcm/downlo...0Datasheet.pdf

**WarmSoda** · 02-20-2010, 13:06

The datasheet shows, if I'm reading it correctly, that he fabric has about the same insulating ability as down. It wouldn't lose any of this insulating abilitiy do to moisture or compression like down, but you would still need some sort of loft greater than 3mm. the weight you give would make a 3mm sheet weight 8 oz/yd2, so a quilt of 3yd2 would weigh 24oz, as much as down if not more. I agree that it would be better to actually have a piece of actual material to work with.

HeadC4U, were you going to ask about samples from the manufacturer? How did that go?

**headchange4u** · 02-20-2010, 13:39

Originally Posted by WarmSoda

HeadC4U, were you going to ask about samples from the manufacturer? How did that go?

I did contact the company but never got a reply.

**WarmSoda** · 02-20-2010, 16:28

Originally Posted by headchange4u

I did contact the company but never got a reply.

Bummer. Well I guess we could all independently contact them until we got a response.

**MacEntyre** · 02-20-2010, 16:45

Originally Posted by Hawk-eye

... seems like you'd really have some serious problems related to sealing up a house too tight.

Energy Recovery Ventilators solve that problem, and prevent mold. If your house is not tight then it will lose energy when it leaks air. If it does not exhaust water vapor, it will collect mold.

Visit my house and I'll show you an ERV at work. I don't heat the house with a candle, but it is extremely efficient. The insulation is fiberglass batting with a reflective vapor barrier, and everything is caulked tight... windows, outside wall studs, sheathing, no air leaks at all. Even the crawl space is airtight and insulated.

**warbonnetguy** · 02-21-2010, 00:53

i've got samples coming, we'll see how it turns out.

i'm thinking since it's a blanket-type material, it might be more useful to lay on it or put it between a double layer, looks more flexible than ccf. it doesn't sound very compressible at all though. the guy i talked to made it sound like it was similar to thick felt, which doesn't make it seem very compressible.

**ikemouser** · 02-21-2010, 11:53

Originally Posted by warbonnetguy

i've got samples coming, we'll see how it turns out.

i'm thinking since it's a blanket-type material, it might be more useful to lay on it or put it between a double layer, looks more flexible than ccf. it doesn't sound very compressible at all though. the guy i talked to made it sound like it was similar to thick felt, which doesn't make it seem very compressible.

Awesome looking forward to the update. Pics or it did'nt happen.

**WarmSoda** · 02-21-2010, 23:57

I found another article about aerogels where a lab in India has made some aerogels flexible and compressible. Weight is 40kg/m3 (much more [20 times more] than down) and thermal 0.02W/mK (similar to down and air). 900 cubic inches/ounce = 1.9222 kg/m3

I'm starting to think that all these materials have similar thermal conductivity to air because that's basically what they are. I read something about some perlite that has the same thermal conductivity, but under a vacuum it was twice as good at 0.00137 W/mK. The problem with vacuums is that the material needs some structure, so compressibility is out, and they probably aren't durable enough for the rugged outdoors.

So, no matter what, any material that is lightweight because it is filled mostly with air will need 3-4 inches of loft or thickness. With that in mind, the materials will all need to take up the same volume, so the big factor is weight. It's just really hard to beat down on weight. And down is comfortable to have pressed against you while you sleep. I'm impressed with the abilities of down more and more the better educated I get on the subject.