Applications for silica aerogel products

Aerogels, nanoporous lightweight materials, were discovered more than 60 years ago. The supercritical manufacturing process and expensive raw materials typically used to produce aerogels prohibited commercialization on an industrial scale. Recently, a commercially attractive ambient pressure production process was developed which will allow broader commercialization of silica aerogel products. Some aerogel products for insulation applications and their preparation is described. Sound insulation properties including a remarkable absorption in the difficult low frequency range was found. In the case of insulation plates performance depends on binder and can be positively influenced by choosing the right binding material. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.