In the modern construction industry, the choice of insulation materials is crucial. There are many insulation materials available on the market, such as fiberglass, mineral wool, cellulose, polyurethane foam and polystyrene, but which material has the best insulation performance?
One material is rapidly taking over the market, and that is aerogel. This feather-light material that looks like “solid smoke” has excellent insulation performance due to its unique porous structure, and has waterproof and anti-corrosion properties. Compared with traditional insulation materials, aerogel is not only lighter, but also performs well under extreme conditions, perfectly meeting the high standards of Modern Buildings for Thermal Insulation and energy conservation and environmental protection.
So why does aerogel have such excellent insulation performance? Let’s find out.
Aerogel generally refers to a lightweight nano-solid material that is composed of nano-scale ultrafine particles that aggregate to form a nanoporous network structure, and the network pores are filled with a gaseous dispersion medium. Aerogel is a solid, but 99% of it is made of gas, and it looks like a cloud. Aerogel is sometimes called “solid smoke” because of its translucent color and ultra-light weight. The most common aerogel is silica aerogel. Silica aerogel is a lightweight nanoporous amorphous solid material with excellent heat insulation properties.
Although aerogel is mostly just air, as long as there is no convection, air is a pretty good at not conducting heat from one place to another.The structure of aerogel is very much like a fine wool suit. The fibers are fine, along with the air pockets restrict the transfer of heat. The suit in the winter will keep the body heat from leaving, making it warm, and in the summer it keeps the heat out, yet allows the wind to cool.
Not only do aerogels excel in a variety of applications due to their unique structure, they also possess a number of significant advantages that make them an integral part of modern materials science. Next, let’s dive into these benefits.
Firstly, The porosity is as high as 80-99.8%, the typical size of the pores is 1-100 nm, the specific surface area is 200-1000㎡/g, the density can be as low as 3kg/m³, and the room temperature thermal conductivity can be as low as 0.012W/(m·k). These characteristics make the thermal insulation performance of aerogel more superior, which can achieve better thermal insulation effect under smaller thickness.
Second, the aerogel material has good hydrophobicity. In humid environment, aerogel will not absorb water and keep its heat insulation performance stable. Moreover, its waterproof properties make it suitable for outdoor and humid environments, avoiding material performance degradation or corrosion problems caused by water absorption.
Third, aerogel have excellent high temperature stability and can be used for a long time at temperatures up to 650℃ without decomposition or performance degradation. This gives it significant advantages in applications such as industrial equipment insulation and high-temperature pipeline insulation in high-temperature environments.
Fourth, aerogel has a long service life due to its high chemical stability and strong anti-aging ability. In practical applications, it can maintain good thermal insulation and waterproof performance for a long time, and is not prone to deformation, degradation, or failure.
It is these unique properties that make aerogels show great potential and advantages in a variety of application scenarios.
As an insulation material, aerogel can be used in the following specific application scenarios:
Firstly, aerogel can be made into Aerogel Insulation Blanket , which can be used for wall insulation, roof insulation, and pipe and tube well insulation in building insulation.
Secondly, aerogel can be made into aerogel insulation panels, which can be used for insulating high-temperature equipment and storage tanks in the industrial field.
Thirdly, aerogel can be made into aerogel fibers, which can be used as raw materials for insulation clothing, outdoor tents, and sleeping bags in the clothing industry.
Compared with traditional thermal insulation materials, aerogel has more excellent high-temperature stability. Under high temperature environment (up to 650 °C or above), aerogel can still maintain its structure and thermal insulation performance without decomposition or significant performance degradation. Glass fiber and mineral wool also have good stability at high temperatures, but usually only maintain complete performance below about 500 °C. At higher temperatures, they may undergo shrinkage or degradation.
In conclusion, aerogel can be used as the best thermal insulation material. All the aerogel products sold by our company can be customized to establish your own brand. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information!
