Aerogel Applications

(1) Petrochemical field

In the petrochemical field, areogel  can be used as an external insulation material due to its excellent thermal insulation performance, such as distillation towers, reaction pipelines, storage tanks, pumps, valves, natural gas and LNG liquefied gas pipelines, deep-sea pipelines, etc. Areogel is wrapped around high-temperature steam, steam, heat transfer oil or fluid medium pipelines. On the one hand, it reduces the heat loss of pipeline exposure. On the other hand, these areas are often limited by weight and space, requiring lightweight and thin insulation materials to prevent air condensation. Glue is the only material that fits perfectly. At the same time, areogel is also recognized for its light weight and strong adsorption capacity in the treatment of oil spill accidents at sea.

(2) Environmental protection field

In the field of environmental protection, cellulose areogel can be used as an adsorbent to absorb oil and other toxic organic substances from water, and is widely used in the adsorption and removal of dye wastewater. In addition, biomass carbon aerogels can remove various heavy metal ions in water, such as Co(II), Cd(II), Pb(II), and Sr(II).

Application of SiO2 airgel in water purification

(3) Construction field

In the field of construction, more and more attention is paid to the heat insulation of doors, windows and walls of houses. Existing thermal insulation materials or thermal insulation capabilities are not ideal, or the thickness is too thick or too heavy to achieve the desired effect. There are also some materials with better thermal insulation capabilities but poor flame retardancy, which can easily cause house fires. Areogel can be used as an upgrade and replacement of existing thermal insulation materials, while taking into account fire prevention, sound insulation and other functions, which is expected to subvert the existing pattern of building thermal insulation materials.

(4) Military industry

In the field of military industry, the performance of airgel has been fully verified. Covering military vehicles with 6 mm of bulletproof airgel can withstand the destructive force of explosives. Dongfeng-17 uses airgel insulation material as its coat, so that Dongfeng-17 will not be damaged by the high temperature generated by air friction while accelerating extremely fast, and the good wave-transmitting performance of areogel material will not block Dongfeng-17 Internal guidance device. In addition, areogel can be used as the outer layer material of aircraft, ships/boats, tanks, missiles, etc., to prevent radiation, absorb infrared rays and diffuse reflection waves to achieve invisibility, and to shield its own electronic signals to achieve anti-reconnaissance functions. The low sound velocity and high porosity and ultra-light weight of airgel in underwater detection make it an ideal acoustic resistance coupling material for ultrasonic detectors and the best underwater acoustic anti-acoustic material. Of course, areogel is also used in fields such as military insulation tents.

(5) Aerospace field

In the field of aerospace, the requirements for thermal insulation, light weight and compression resistance of materials are the most stringent. The Russian "Peace" space station, the American "Mars Pathfinder" probe and "Mars Rover" rover, my country's "Long March 5" carrier rocket and the "Zhurong" Mars rover have all used airgel materials for thermal insulation Material, the "Star" spacecraft used to collect comet dust also used collection "gloves" made of aerogel. In August 2016, the 306th Institute of the Third Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry and Huaxing Meike New Material Technology (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. held a signing ceremony to jointly establish an international research and development center for areogel technology, striving to create an internationally advanced and domestically leading airgel Gel technology research and development base.

(6) Battery field

In the field of batteries, thermal runaway accidents of lithium-ion power battery packs occur from time to time, and preventing thermal runaway cells from transferring heat to other battery systems is the main solution. Areogel felt has the characteristics of fire prevention, heat insulation and flame retardancy, and is soft in texture and easy to process. It is an ideal preventive material; in addition, in the field of thermal battery applications, areogel can solve the Many fields require high performance and long life of thermal batteries. At present, the newly developed airgel glass fiber mat can increase the high temperature resistance of the battery pack to above 800°C, greatly improving the heat resistance of the battery.

Thermal insulation principle of areogel in battery

(7) Transportation field

In the field of transportation, areogel materials are mainly used in fireproof, thermal insulation and noise reduction layers of automobiles, fireproof and waterproof insulation boxes for large-capacity battery packs, thermal insulation and fireproof layers of special transportation vehicles such as dangerous chemical transport vehicles, liquefied natural gas carriers, high-speed rail and Thermal insulation, noise reduction and fire prevention layer of subway car body, etc. In a fire caused by a traffic accident, the ignition point is generally concentrated in the engine compartment. Adding a layer of airgel fire barrier between the engine compartment and the cockpit can prevent the fire from spreading to the cockpit.

Using airgel to construct automobile fireproof partition wall

(8) Daily life

In daily life, wherever heat preservation is required, areogel has the possibility of application.

Areogel ski suit: the thermal conductivity of airgel composite cotton fiber felt is 3.77 W/(m2 K), the thermal conductivity of down is 5.93 W/(m2 K), and the airgel is only 0.2cm thick Composite cotton fiber felt (74.03% heat preservation rate) is equivalent to the heat preservation effect of 4cm thick down fiber (78.12% heat preservation rate).

Areogel tennis rackets: Tennis or badminton rackets made of airgel as a filling material, using the nanoporous structure of airgel, can better absorb energy and absorb shocks, greatly reducing the risk of "tennis elbow" risks of. Plus, this racquet hits the ball more powerfully.

Areogel hiking boots: Airgel materials can be applied to insoles, uppers, heels and ankle wraps. The usual method of use is to sandwich a layer of airgel material between two layers of fabric. The use of airgel materials with a thickness of about 2mm can meet the thermal insulation performance requirements of shoes.