Aerogel: An Incredible Insulator

In 1931 Aerogel was first produced from silica gels. After that it were derived from variety of materials like alumina, carbon, chromia and tin oxide. The gel goes under supercritical drying to keep the structure of the gel intake even after drying. The supercritical drying is performed under intense heat and pressure. The resulting aerogel is porous, having lattice composed of more than 90% air. This property make it ultra-lightweight. 

Importance:
 

Aerogel is porous but solid material that shows a group of extreme properties. This materials are extremely costly and can only be used at expansive properties with environmentally friendly features. But in coming years as aerogel becomes cheaper, it is expected to use in most structures as an insulating materials. The physical properties that make aerogel lucrative are as follows: 

1. Aerogel is the lowest density solid in the world. This is unbelievable that some sorts of aerogel composed of more than 99% air.

2. Being such low density, it still performs as solid

3. Aerogel can support many times load of its selfweight

4. One cubic inch of aerogel may have a surface area like a football area. This poor conductive large surface area makes it extreme insulation properties.

Aerogel as an Insulator:

Aerogel can almost fully reduce heat transfer as the gaseous pores are poor heat conductor. The heat transferring methods, like conduction, convection and radiation, almost do not work through aerogel.