Effects of the Heat Treatment in the Properties of Fibrous Aerogel Thermal Insulation

Ákos Lakatos, Attila Csík, Anton Trník and István Budai
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Ákos Lakatos: Department of Building Services and Building Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Debrecen, Ótemető str 2-4 1, 4028 Debrecen, Hungary
Attila Csík: Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Bem tér 18/c, 4026 Debrecen, Hungary
Anton Trník: Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Tr. A Hlinku 1, 94974 Nitra, Slovakia
István Budai: Department of Engineering Management and Enterprise, Faculty of Engineering, University of Debrecen, Ótemető str 2-4, 4028 Debrecen, Hungary

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-12

Abstract: Nowadays, besides the use of conventional insulations (plastic foams and wool materials), aerogels are one of the most promising thermal insulation materials. As one of the lightest solid materials available today, aerogels are manufactured through the combination of a polymer with a solvent, forming a gel. For buildings, the fiber-reinforced types are mainly used. In this paper, the changes both in the thermal performance and the material structure of the aerogel blanket are followed after thermal annealing. The samples are put under isothermal heat treatments at 70 °C for weeks, as well as at higher temperatures (up to 210 °C) for one day. The changes in the sorption properties that result from the annealing are presented. Furthermore, the changes in the thermal conductivity are followed by a Holometrix Lambda heat flow meter. The changes in the structure and surface of the material due to the heat treatment are investigated by X-ray diffraction and with scanning electron microscopy. Besides, the above-mentioned measurement results of differential scanning calorimetry experiments are also presented. As a result of using equipment from different laboratories that support each other, we found that the samples go through structural changes after undergoing thermal annealing. We manifested that the aerogel granules separate down from the glass fibers and grow up. This phenomenon might be responsible for the change in the thermal conductivity of the samples.

Keywords: fibrous aerogel; thermal conductivity; heat treatment; XRD; SEM; DSC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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