Aerogel

Find me a boating use for this material.

http://www.unitednuclear.com/aerogel.htm

I posted this on another forum.

http://www.martinloganowners.com/~tdacquis/forum/showthread.php?t=1646

A 3,000°F blowtorch under a thin slice of Aerogel
has no effect on the crayons on top.

 

http://www.aerogel.com/

Also known as Pyrogel.

 

Thanks for posting this! I haven't read everything yet but apparently it absorbs water/moisture?

 

I don't know, would depend if it's open cell or closed cell - right?

I'm sure it's in that last link if you take the time to look it up. It's a good question because most insulators don't work well when wet.

 

Water absorbtion.

On http://www.aerogel.com you can read it likes to absorb water so much it will leave a "dry spot" on you skin after handling it.
No fear, they claim the dry spot will disappear after a while.

Maritime use only recommended if sure water will never enter r boat.

 

Yeah-they say it's a dessicant. I talked to Ron Reichard of Structural Composites about it and it is "open cell" but very ,very small cells.No good around moisture/water as in a core but perhaps in a sealed environment for insulation.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dessicant

I would not want Aerogell dust in my lungs. I'm not sure how gel-like Aerogel really is. Can it become airborn like dust when shaping?

 

good future stuff for building skyscaper or Nirvana....... only if the price can be cheap....... seen it in TV only

 

Fantastic material...
Best insulation properties by far.
Spongy by feel, to a certain point,
you can compress it slightly between your fingers, press more than this and the material breaks to dust. Disintegrates.
Would probably be safe from vibration in use as insulation.
Will soak up moisture so must be "bagged"
Has some use as impact absorbsion (used in space to capture partickles)

 

When you say "bagged" , do you mean laminated sealed in a plastic enclosu..................ahhhhh my cat just jumped on my leg.

I was thinking that any kind of liquid sealer would be sucked up and absorbed - and NOT stay on the surface. Bagging it seems to be the answer I was wondering about.

If someone tried to vacuum bag and seal it, I'd imagine it would compress as the air was removed from it's cellular structure.

The same goes for temperture extreems when the air in the Aerogel expands and contracts deforming the adjacent surfaces. This would be similar to fiberglassed over extruded polystyreen sitting in the sun - could be puckering?

I wonder if ther is any "off-gassing" of the Aerogel.

Looks like I'll have to go back to their homepage and do some more reading.

 

It doesn't look like aerogel is fryable (become and airbourne particulate). I hear alot about how people don't like fiberglass because it never decomposes and blah blah blah..... A day at the beach can fill your lungs with glass particulate too, what's the problem??

 

Funny thing PBS radio in the states did a special on this topic yesterday. Silica dust in the 1930's-50's and abestos dust in the 1950's-70's were major industry/medical concerns and scares.

 

This material is used by Glacier Bay to create panels for ice box's.

JC47