Solid yet lightweight. Opaque but still can be touched. What is it? That airgel.
This material is not new. Aerogel was first created by an American chemist named Samuel Stephens Kistler in 1931. However airgel first version is still fragile and the manufacturing cost is very expensive so only used for laboratory purposes.
Aerogel is a solid material with the lowest density ever. For comparison, the density airgel 1,000 times more lax than the glass. The reason is none other than the 99.8 percent airgel structure is empty space. Even so, airgel could withstand a direct blast of one kilogram of dynamite and blowtorch resistant to heat where temperatures can reach 1300 degrees Celsius.
This material is made by extracting the liquid component of the gel and then replacing it with gas. The result is a substance that is solid but has a low density and have the ability as a good heat insulator.
To extract the liquid component of the gel used Supercritical drying method, a fluid transfer process which is controlled very accurately. With that method, the fluid can be removed slowly without causing collapse due to capillary density matrix, as is common in conventional evaporation.
In contrast to other solid material, airgel have a transparent form so that the smoke was dubbed the frozen (frozen smoke). Other nicknames given to this unique material is dense smoke (solid smoke), dense air (solid water), and blue smoke (blue smoke) because of its ability to spread the light.
When touched, airgel surface is very similar to the styrofoam and no gel-like at all. The word "gel" in its name is taken from the silica gel, a material first used to make this material Kistler. In further developments, Kistler make airgel of alumina, chromia, and tin oxide. In the late 80s, carbon airgel began to be developed.
A decade ago, NASA became interested in airgel and applying it to some equipment to support their mission. In 1999, NASA uses a tennis racket-shaped airgel to capture dust particles of comet Wild 2. Mission that uses the Stardust spacecraft is working well.
In 2002, NASA established the Aspen Aerogel, a company founded by NASA to create a more powerful yet airgel and more flexible. Currently the material is being used in the development of an insulating layer on a space outfit that will be used in a human mission to Mars in 2018.
Mark Krajewski, a senior scientist at the Aspen Aerogel, confident 18-millimeter-thick layer of airgel will be able to protect astronauts from temperature of minus 130 degrees Celsius. "This is the best insulator ever," he told the Times.
Moreover, in other laboratory tests, airgel proved successful in lining metal plate from the explosion of dynamite. Metal plate coated with a six millimeter thick airgel almost flawless when faced with a direct dynamite blast. It proves its potential as a protective layer antibom on buildings and military vehicles.
There are still many applications airgel in other fields such as sports (tennis and squash racquet production), housing (thermal insulation), and others. The pores of the nano-sized airgel can also capture pollutants and serves as an air bag.
The researchers believe the version airgel made from platinum can be used to accelerate the production of hydrogen. So that later, airgel can be used to produce hydrogen-based fuel.
This material is not new. Aerogel was first created by an American chemist named Samuel Stephens Kistler in 1931. However airgel first version is still fragile and the manufacturing cost is very expensive so only used for laboratory purposes.
Aerogel is a solid material with the lowest density ever. For comparison, the density airgel 1,000 times more lax than the glass. The reason is none other than the 99.8 percent airgel structure is empty space. Even so, airgel could withstand a direct blast of one kilogram of dynamite and blowtorch resistant to heat where temperatures can reach 1300 degrees Celsius.
This material is made by extracting the liquid component of the gel and then replacing it with gas. The result is a substance that is solid but has a low density and have the ability as a good heat insulator.
To extract the liquid component of the gel used Supercritical drying method, a fluid transfer process which is controlled very accurately. With that method, the fluid can be removed slowly without causing collapse due to capillary density matrix, as is common in conventional evaporation.
In contrast to other solid material, airgel have a transparent form so that the smoke was dubbed the frozen (frozen smoke). Other nicknames given to this unique material is dense smoke (solid smoke), dense air (solid water), and blue smoke (blue smoke) because of its ability to spread the light.
When touched, airgel surface is very similar to the styrofoam and no gel-like at all. The word "gel" in its name is taken from the silica gel, a material first used to make this material Kistler. In further developments, Kistler make airgel of alumina, chromia, and tin oxide. In the late 80s, carbon airgel began to be developed.
A decade ago, NASA became interested in airgel and applying it to some equipment to support their mission. In 1999, NASA uses a tennis racket-shaped airgel to capture dust particles of comet Wild 2. Mission that uses the Stardust spacecraft is working well.
In 2002, NASA established the Aspen Aerogel, a company founded by NASA to create a more powerful yet airgel and more flexible. Currently the material is being used in the development of an insulating layer on a space outfit that will be used in a human mission to Mars in 2018.
Mark Krajewski, a senior scientist at the Aspen Aerogel, confident 18-millimeter-thick layer of airgel will be able to protect astronauts from temperature of minus 130 degrees Celsius. "This is the best insulator ever," he told the Times.
Moreover, in other laboratory tests, airgel proved successful in lining metal plate from the explosion of dynamite. Metal plate coated with a six millimeter thick airgel almost flawless when faced with a direct dynamite blast. It proves its potential as a protective layer antibom on buildings and military vehicles.
There are still many applications airgel in other fields such as sports (tennis and squash racquet production), housing (thermal insulation), and others. The pores of the nano-sized airgel can also capture pollutants and serves as an air bag.
The researchers believe the version airgel made from platinum can be used to accelerate the production of hydrogen. So that later, airgel can be used to produce hydrogen-based fuel.
