Aerogel, a high performance material for thermal insulation - A brief overview of the building applications

Abstract

In this paper data regarding the utilization of aerogel as a promising material for thermal insulation of the residential and commercial buildings are presented. Also, research work and developments in synthesis, properties and characterization of silica aerogels will be addressed. Aerogel is a synthetic porous ultralight material derived from a gel in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with a gas. The result is a solid with extremely low density and low thermal conductivity. Sol-gel is the most used method of preparation. Aerogel melts at 1200ºC and the thermal conductivity is almost 0. Is a solid material with the smallest density because contains about 99.8% air. This material has almost unlimited potential, believing that they might find application in most human activities and areas. Aerogel insulation is a good choice because nearly neutralizes all three methods of heat transfer: convection, conduction and radiation. The resistance to convective transfer is given by the fact that air does not circulate in the material structure. The resistance to thermal transfer by conduction is given by the majority of gaseous components. If using a carbon based gel, a high resistance to radiation transfer is obtained. Therefore, the most used aerogel for thermal insulation is the silica aerogel with carbon as nanostructured material. The high price makes it currently inaccessible and less used material. But, inevitably, the aerogel will quickly become one of the most attractive materials in the future.

Statistical analysis of the compositions of insulating plasters with aerogel

“…Thus, this material is attractive for researchers and engineers with the goal of developing new aerogel -based materials for buildings isolation 6 . Statistical methods 7,8,9 seem to be appropriate in such problems because offer the possibility to reasonably draw the valid conclusions from limited amounts of data for which significant differences are also often blurred by experimental imprecision.…”

Application of Coating Mixture Based on Silica Aerogel to Improve Thermal Protective Performance of Fabrics

“…Due to the wide potential of aerogel-based materials, its applications can be found in all industrial sectors. Aerogels can be used in construction as thermal and acoustic materials [12][13][14]. Properties of aerogels have made them a new material for aerospace applications, sensors and coatings, energy generation and storage, and biomedical devices and implants [11,13,15,16].…”

Hybrid RF-Si Xerogels: A Cost-Effective Proposal for Insulator Materials

“…On this basis, aerogels are considered a good option for insulation since their properties as non-ordered structures, higher porosity (i.e., more than 90%) and low weight [ 1 , 6 , 9 , 12 ] are able to neutralize or nullify the methods of heat transfer [ 7 , 8 , 13 ]. Aerogels are able to perform as superinsulators, and among the materials that achieve this characteristic, they are considered the most promising ones.…”

“…The small pore sizes of these aerogels allow nullification of the convection and gas conductivity, so only radiation and solid conductivity contribute to the heat transfer process [ 8 , 15 ]. These materials reach thermal conductivities around 10–20 mW/mK and have a wide variety of applications [ 9 , 13 ]. Nevertheless, their long and multi-step synthesis process, high production costs, poor mechanical properties and health issues (i.e., irritant to the eyes, skin, respiratory tract, and digestive system) limit their practical applications and mass production [ 1 , 6 , 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”