ASPEN AEROGELS | NANOTECHNOLOGY AT WORK™

RAIN OR SHINE, OUR AEROGEL BLANKET PRODUCTS KEEP INSULATING
Aspen Aerogels’ blanket products are chemically treated to repel water at the molecular level. This treatment process keeps water from penetrating or condensing within the pore structure under demanding conditions - even after submersion in seawater for 6 weeks!

Click to enlarge - Water Vapor Transmission

water vapor
Aspen Aerogel blankets are naturally hydrophobic. During the production process, the aerogel’s microstructure is end-capped with a water repelling species. As such, our blanket products do not adsorb significant quantities of moisture even under high humidity conditions. ASTM C-1104 is an industry standard to evaluate the water vapor sorption of mineral fiber insulation, requiring that the material be dried and subsequently exposed to 93% relative humidity at 49ºC for 96 hours. Third party testing using the C-1104 protocol has documented that our aerogel blankets absorb less than 1wt% water.

Beading of water on coupon

High Contact Angle due to Hydrophobicity

vacuum
Under high vacuum aerogel blankets are chemically and physically stable. Weight loss
at 10^-4 torr is less than 1wt%.

vibration
Aerospace applications require validation of performance following aggressive vibration
protocols. Aspen’s aerogel blankets show little change in visual appearance and no change
in thermal performance following aggressive shock and vibration testing. A typical test protocol entails subjecting the aerogel blankets to a combination of low and high frequency (250-50,000 Hz) vibrations at amplitudes up to 30 dB.