Aerogel

[Powerslide]

When I was in the water heater industry, we did some research and tests using Aerogel as supplied by Bayer. This was in the mid 90's. At the time, the Aerogel we were using came in a extremely lightweight granular form. We were making the top insulation for a residential storage type water heater. Two round pieces of foil were bonded together (don't remember the process) with the powder filling the inside. (think of stacking two pizza pans together and sealing the periphery but made of foil.) A vacuum was pulled on the assembly trapping the granular aerogel and making the assembly rigid.
It was to be used to replace a blown foam insulation but the results couldn't justify the cost. It was a great insulator but...

................expensive?

Be interesting if it could be put within layers of chassis as a another version of honeycomb. Sticky?

[Moxie]

So now I have worked with the stuff. I made insulation blankets out of it. It is nasty $h!t. I was not informed exactly what I was working with. Only after I felt the negative effects did I bother to ask "What the hell is this stuff?" I wear nylon gloves with a rubber palm, and it still managed to suck the moisture from my hands. I did not wear a respirator, and I regretted it. I cannot comment on the cost/benefit, but I can see how it might be very useful in certain circumstances. The truth using that it is an expensive product, and if you actually care about the health and safety of your crew, then it is also expensive to install.

[JayDum]

Very riveting, I would like to also think

[Just_a_fan]

When I was in the water heater industry, we did some research and tests using Aerogel as supplied by Bayer. This was in the mid 90's. At the time, the Aerogel we were using came in a extremely lightweight granular form. We were making the top insulation for a residential storage type water heater. Two round pieces of foil were bonded together (don't remember the process) with the powder filling the inside. (think of stacking two pizza pans together and sealing the periphery but made of foil.) A vacuum was pulled on the assembly trapping the granular aerogel and making the assembly rigid.
It was to be used to replace a blown foam insulation but the results couldn't justify the cost. It was a great insulator but...

A similar system is available for building insulation. Vacuum insulated panels are approx. 3 times as effective as polyisocyanurate / polyurethane insulations and some 5 times better than glass/mineral fibre insulation.

An example: http://www.kingspaninsulation.co.uk/Pro ... rview.aspx

Aerogel is almost mainstream these days.

[Edax]

Finally, A topic in F1 technical that falls smack dab into my field of expertise. Finally a chance to shine in front of all of the engineers that I find to be a bit intimidating in the forums. ANNNDDDD wouldn't you know it. I am still at a loss for information. UGGGGHHHHH

LOL sounds familiar.

I think this stuff is cursed. Once every few years I get an application where aerogels might be interesting and I think of running some feasibility studies. But then always a conventional solution pops up, which fits the application. And in a cost and lead time driven environment that always wins. As a result I never got further with aerogels then getting some samples out of curiosity.

It is amazing how materials wich such unique properties can attract so little applications.

For F1 I think that aerogels have little too offer. For insulating purposes, I cannot really see an area where they would fit in. The exhaust/turbine environment is too hot. There conventional insulation like YSZ, fiber blankets, fiber refractory etc. would be better matched. (I think I did also spot some metal foam insulation on the Mercedes system.)

In the sidepods you have a lot of flow to help so I imagine so keeping things (like electronics) cool would be mainly shielding them from direct radiation and cooling them by the flow.

For structural applications like honeycombing I don't think areogels are suited. The big difficulty would be to bond the material to the outer plies. You need that bond for strength. In order to get a bond you need something that wets the material. Since it is open porous most likely any attempt to bond it would end up in infiltrating the gel with adhesive and loss of properties.