The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Aerogel Thermal Insulation

Not all insulation was created equal! 

How well insulation performs is governed by its thickness, its thermal conductivity and how well it is installed. This makes different materials suitable to different applications. Here we describe the unique characteristics of aerogel and the best places to use it.

What is aerogel?

Aerogel consists of near-vacuum gas trapped inside a matrix of material. The product was originally developed in the s and has a range of applications, primarily as a lightweight insulating material. More information can be found on Wikipedia.

Click here to get more.

The product is solid (not a gel) and has a very low thermal conductivity. It is made from silica which undergoes a super-critical drying process to create the lightweight gas it contains. This product is a desiccant and can have a drying effect on the skin, so the use of protective gloves is highly recommended when handling the product.

The product is usually produced in matts 5 or 10mm thick. The thermal conductivity of 0.015W/mK is 30% better than the leading foam board products. Its flexible nature also means it can be installed more reliably, and in more situations, than rigid insulation products.

Aerogel is also vapour permeable (vapour-open), which means that moisture can permeate through it. This makes it ideal for retrofit of existing buildings and highly suitable for use in traditional buildings, where moisture and ventilation is a significant concern.

Where can I use Aerogel insulation?

Aerogel matts have a range of applications in different industries, from aerospace to construction.

In construction they can be used as wall, floor or roof insulation and are ideal for retrofit projects.

Wall Insulation

As with any insulation product its use on walls depends on the construction build-up. Aerogel can be used on solid walls (brick or stone), but the application will vary depending on whether the bricks or stone are highly porous, whether there is external render and depending on the internal finish. The vapour open nature of aerogel means that it can allow moisture to permeate the wall, but expert advice should be sought before installing the product. Please get in touch with our technical team to confirm your application.

It can reliably be used to insulate timber frame walls, but please check with our technical team to make sure you get the most out of your installation.

Wall finishes must be tailored to suit the specific application. Foil-faced plasterboard is not recommended where vapour permeability is required and many paints and wallpapers can also trap moisture.

Window Reveals

One of the most common uses for aerogel in buildings is around window reveals. Windows installations frequently result in thermal bridging between the window frame and the wall insulation. This is particularly true in traditional buildings where windows are located toward the outside of very thick walls. This can be overcome by insulating the window reveals such that there is an insulation bridge from the wall insulation to the window frame. Aerogel is ideally suited to this situation thanks to its high performance and vapour permeability.

Roof insulation

Cold Roofs - Aerogel can reliably be use to insulate at ceiling level in a loft space, or on room-in-roof stud walls. It’s not usually cost effective to use aerogel in this situation, but if you think you would benefit from the additional performance of aerogel in this application please get in touch and our technical team will be pleased to advise.

Warm Roofs - Aerogel is very well suited to insulating loft conversions and room-in-roof spaces, including dormers. It can be applied internally over the existing plaster finish where space constraints are tight. This can give good performance and eliminate the thermal bridging from roof timbers.

Aerogel can also be applied to the rafters in a roof, however careful attention should be paid to the junctions at the eaves, the ridge and the gables, to ensure that the insulation is continuous and airtight. Please consult our technical team for advice and guidance.

Floor Insulation

Solid Floors - Aerogel blankets are ideally suited for solid floors. The high performance means that a thin layer can still be effective which reduces the need to trim internal doors or skirtings.

Floor finishes will dictate the thickness of insulation that can be applied and timber battens may be required to spread the load of the floor. A membrane over the aerogel may also be required to maintain airtightness.

Suspended floors - the most cost effective way to insulate a suspended timber floor is usually from beneath. However, this isn’t always practical with shallow sub-floor voids.

Need further guidance?

Our technical team are ready to assist with your application and we always recommend getting independent advice from a Retrofit Advisor or Retrofit Coordinator when considering changes to your home.

As a leading silica aerogel manufacturer in China since , we get new inquiries about aerogel every day. People all around the world are curious about the amazing properties of aerogel. Therefore, we are happy to share the basic knowledge below to help you get the right insight into this wonderful material.

Question 1: What is aerogel?

Answer: Aerogel is a general and collective term for a diverse class of nanoporous structured solid materials, including silica aerogel, which is currently the most widely applied. Most of the time, when we talk about ‘aerogel’, we mean Silica(SiO2) Aerogel.

The 3D network structure of aerogel is composed of nano-size particles, and filled with air or other gases. A typical type of aerogel contains 95-99% air in volume. They are the lowest-density solid materials that have been produced in the world.
Currently, there are more than 30 kinds of materials that can be processed into aerogel structures, but the most commonly seen is Silica(SiO2) Aerogel.

Check this video below to learn more about aerogel.

Question 2: Is aerogel a sticky or adhesive ‘Gel’ material?

Answer: No, aerogel is not sticky or adhesive at all. It is a dry and solid material called ‘solid smoke’ or ‘blue smoke’. 

So why do people call this dry and solid material ‘GEL’? Well, because after the supercritical drying process in aerogel production, the original ‘GEL’ becomes dry and solid, and the finished product is what we call AEROGEL.

Question 3: Is aerogel toxic or harmful to human health?

Answer: No, aerogel is non-toxic and has been proven to be safe for human health. Just it can cause dryness and short-term irritation to human body.

As the most commonly applied aerogel is Silica (SiO2) Aerogel, most of the time, when we talk about ‘Aerogel’, we normally mean Silica (SiO2) Aerogel. Silica aerogel is composed of air and silica(SiO2), no more others. It is 100% inorganic and non-toxic, and has been proven to be safe for human health.
The only thing you need to worry about when handling aerogel is the short-term irritation that aerogel powder(dust) may cause to human body.
Silica aerogel is hydrophobic and may cause dryness and short-term irritation irritation to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. Therefore, when handling aerogel, it is recommended to wear respiratory masks, gloves, long-sleeved clothes, safety glasses and even chemical goggles for greater protection. It is also recommended to rinse your body thoroughly after handling aerogel. Single-use overalls are recommended to minimize skin contact.

Click here to contact us and get the MSDS document of our silica aerogel material

Question 4: Why is aerogel so special that people say it is future material?

Answer: Because aerogel breaks 15 Guinness World Records for its magical properties, like the lowest thermal conductivity, the lowest density, etc., and people are still studying about different properties of different aerogels. Now more and more people come to realize the super insulation performance of aerogel and choose aerogel insulation as a better thermal insulation solution.

Click this blog here to learn more about the magical properties of aerogel

Question 5: What is aerogel material?

Answer: When we talk about ‘Aerogel Material’, normally we mean silica aerogel composite materials like flexible aerogel blankets, rigid aerogel panels, encapsulated aerogel thermal barriers, etc., as well as pure silica aerogel powder/particle.

Click here to learn more about our aerogel materials.

Question 6: Is aerogel insulation blanket pure aerogel or aerogel composite material?

Answer: Aerogel insulation blanket is a type of aerogel composite material.

When aerogel composited with fiberglass blanket or ceramic fiber blanket, the material shows good mechanical performance and extremely low thermal conductivity, which is better than pure aerogel alone or fiberglass/ceramic fiber blanket alone.

Click here to learn more about our aerogel insulation blanket.

Question 7: Why do people use aerogel composite material instead of 100% pure aerogel for high-efficiency thermal insulation?

Answer: Because 100% pure aerogel is too brittle to be used. It has to be composited with base materials of good mechanical performance such as fiberglass blanket, ceramic fiber blanket, etc.

Question 8: Why is silica aerogel material called ‘the ultimate thermal insulation material in the world’?

Answer: Because silica aerogel features the lowest thermal conductivity. Silica aerogel contains 95% ~ 97% of air, which is trapped in the convoluted matrix of silica. So aerogel can effectively insulate heat against the Three Basic heat flow mechanisms: heat conduction, heat radiation, and heat convection.

Heat Insulation against Heat Conduction
The porous and convoluted nano-structure of aerogels creates extremely long heat transfer path, resulting in high thermal resistance in heat conduction.

Heat Insulation against Heat Radiation
The vast number of nano cells form gas-solid interfaces that prevent heat radiation by reflection, adsorption, transmission, and re-radiation.

Heat Insulation against Heat Convection
The pore size of aerogel is smaller than 70nm in diameter which restricts motion of gas molecules. Therefore, effectively preventing heat transfer through gas convection

Question 9: Is aerogel mass production tech already mature enough for civilian uses?

Answer: Absolutely, yes. Since decades ago, mass production technology of silica(SiO2) aerogel has been mature enough for civilian uses.

The most widely applied property is silica aerogel’s lowest thermal conductivity.
In , our factory Namate created a unique production technique and successfully realized cost-effective industrialization of high-quality silica aerogel and aerogel composites. This unique production technique solved the long-lasting severe dust-drop problem of silica aerogel composites and enhanced the thermal insulation performance to a new level.
Now silica aerogel materials have been widely applied in various civilian sectors like oil&gas, pulp&paper, power generation, building construction, e-vehicles, lightweight and high-performance thermal clothing and equipment, etc.

Check the video below to have a general idea about our factory.

Goto bestlink to know more.

Click here to learn more about our factory facilities.

Question 10: Why are aerogel materials so expensive? Are they cheaper than 10 years ago?

Answer: Yes, aerogel materials have become much cheaper than 10 years ago. They are expensive because of the high-cost and complicated production process.

For example, in China, aerogel price today is only half that 10 years ago. However, aerogel materials are still much more expensive than conventional thermal insulation materials like rockwool, fiberglass, PU foam, etc. The key reason lies in the high-cost and complicated production process of aerogel.
Generally, there are two steps to make high-quality aerogel:
Step 1. Sol-Gel, and Step 2. Supercritical Drying.
As for the first step, to get a perfect Gel from the Sol, high quality raw materials and highly sophisticated technical operators are essential while the both are quite costly.
As for the second step, the Supercritical Drying process requires high temperature and high pressure during the interaction. The initial investment of such specially designed reactors and the related equipment and devices is very costly. What’s more, to eliminate fluid from the Gel while causing no shrinkage, each small adjustment matters a lot, so it requires very strict and cautious operation. Currently, all around the world, only a few sophisticated and expert-level operators can successfully and consistently handle such delicate operations during daily aerogel mass production.

Check this video below to learn about how aerogel is made

Question 11: Currently what are the main applications of aerogel?

Answer: Thermal insulation and fire prevention in industrial pipelines and equipment, building construction, energy storage, e-vehicle battery thermal management, etc.

With so many magical properties, aerogel can be widely applied in various industries for the purposes of thermal insulation, fire protection, acoustic insulation, environment protection, biomedical engineering, etc. Scientists are still doing researches on aerogel’s different properties, and currently, aerogel materials are mainly and widely applied in the fields below:

With a working temperature range from -200℃to ℃, aerogel materials are widely applied in various heavy industries.

1. Industrial Insulation Applications:

  1.1 High-temperature Industrial Applications (≤650℃)

• Oil pipelines, and equipment in the petrochemical industry
• Steam turbines, boilers, long-distance thermal pipelines, and high and medium-pressure pipelines in the power generation industry
• Steam pipelines and smoke exhaust pipes in vessels and ships
• Body insulation for high-speed railways and subways
• Fire protection and thermal insulation of electric vehicles, etc.

  1.2 Cryogenic Industrial Applications 

• Cryogenic storage and transportation of LNG, liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen, and others
• Cryogenic insulation in cold storage, chemical refrigeration, etc
• Thermal insulation in high-clean environments of the pharmacy industry, electronics industry, etc

  1.3 Super-high-temperature Industrial Applications(≥ ℃) 

• Industrial equipment like kilns
• Super-high-temperature industrial pipelines like smoke exhaust pipelines
• Fire protection and body thermal insulation for special military equipment

2. Building Construction Applications

• Fire protection and thermal insulation for walls, roofs, and windows
• Fire protection and thermal insulation for HVAC systems

3. Energy Storage

• Battery storage system fire protection and thermal insulation
• Limited-space thermal insulation

4. E-vehicle Battery Thermal Management Applications

• E-vehicle battery system fire protection and thermal insulation  
• Battery cell-to-cell thermal-runaway prevention

Click here to learn more about aerogel solutions in different application scenarios

Question 12: What kind of aerogel materials are widely applied in civilian scenarios?

Answer: Flexible aerogel blanket, rigid aerogel panel, and silica aerogel powder/particles.

12.1 Flexible Aerogel Blanket

• Flexible high-temperature aerogel insulation blanket(≤650℃) is the most commonly-seen aerogel insulation material. It is widely applied for the purposes of energy-saving, fire-prevention, and anti-scald in various industries like the oil&gas, chemical industry, power generation, building construction, etc.
• Cryogenic aerogel insulation blanket(-200℃~+400℃) is widely used for the purpose of energy-saving in cryogenic storage and transportation of LNG, liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen, etc, and high-clean environments of the pharmacy industry, electronics industry, etc., especially in scenarios where there is only limited space for insulation material installation.

12.2 Rigid Aerogel Panel

• Rigid high-temperature aerogel insulation panel(≤650℃) is also commonly-seen in the thermal insulation of industrial equipment and building construction.
• Rigid super-high-temperature aerogel insulation panels(≤℃/℃) are mainly applied in the thermal insulation of super-high-temperature industrial equipment.

12.3 Silica Aerogel Powder/Particles

• Silica aerogel powder/particles mainly used as the functional additive or raw material in thermal insulation coating, pre-mixed mortar, special plastic formula, etc.

Click here to learn more about our aerogel materials

Question 13: What are the advantages and disadvantages of aerogel materials?

Answer:

Advantages of aerogel materials:

• Excellent thermal insulation performance under high temperatures
  With nanoporous silica(SiO2) aerogel as the core material, its thermal conductivity is extremely low even under temperatures up to 650℃.
• Easy installation and extremely low thermal bridge
  Its thermal insulation layer thickness is only 1/5~1/3 of conventional thermal insulation materials. So it is easy to cut and install this insulation blanket and easily lapping over the edges can avoid thermal bridge to the utmost. 
• Hydrophobic 
  Hydrophobic rate≥98%. No water absorption and no moisture absorption. The insulation blanket can prevent pipelines and equipment from CUI and extend their service life.
• Flame retardant
  Flame retardant grade: A grade. It can effectively prevent pipelines and equipment from flame and fire.
• Durable and long service life
  As an aging-resistant inorganic material with a compact and stable material structure and high compression resilience and high hydrophobic rate, this insulation blanket service life can be the same as that of the pipelines and equipment.
• Non-toxic and environmentally friendly
  It does not contain harmful substances such as asbestos, benzene, and formaldehyde, and the whole production process and application process are non-toxic and environmentally friendly. It can be reused after removal so no worry about industrial waste disposal.

Disadvantages of aerogel materials:

• High price
  With the high-cost and complicated production process of aerogel materials, currently, aerogel material price is still much higher than conventional insulation materials like rookwool, fiberglass, PU foam, etc., despite the thinner aerogel insulation thickness in applications.
• Dust-drop problem
  Currently, dust-drop remains a problem in aerogel material applications. Especially in those clean-room requirement working scenarios. To get high thermal insulation performance and solve the dust-drop problem, people have to wrap the aerogel material thoroughly to avoid the influence of aerogel dust on the operators and working environment.

Question 14: What are the most important performances to care about when choosing aerogel materials?

Answer: Thermal conductivity, working temperature range, dust-drop rate, hydrophobicity, burning characteristics, density, flexibility/stiffness, etc.

Thermal conductivity

Low thermal conductivity is the most important reason why people choose areogel materials. Most silica aerogel material thermal conductivity is now around 0.020 at 25℃. While some high-quality aerogel material can even reach ≤0.015 at 25℃. When applied in high-temperature scenarios, aerogel thermal conductivities at different temperatures are considered as the most important.

Working temperature range

There are different aerogel materials for different working temperature ranges. The most popular one is for the working temperature range up to 650℃(Click here to check details about our ThermFelt HT650 series). There is also aerogel material specially designed for cryogenic insulation, which can withstand a temperature range -200℃ to +500℃(Click here to check details about our CryoFelt LD). Another special aerogel material is meant for super-high-temperature applications above ℃(Click here to check details about our ThermFelt SHT series)

Dust-drop Rate

Another important performance people care about is the dust-drop rate of aerogel material. Now all the silica aerogel composite materials are faced with the aerogel-dust-drop problem. Because after the super-critical drying process, there is inevitably some aerogel dust residue on the surface. Aerogel dust can cause dryness and irritation problems to human skin and make the working environment unclean. Fortunately, years ago, we successfully developed the low-dust-drop version aerogel insulation material, and after years of development, now the dust-drop rate has been proven to be the lowest among all the aerogel brands in the world. Click here to know more about our low-dust-drop aerogel materials

Hydrophobicity

Generally, for working temperatures below 200℃, normal aerogel materials(qualified aerogel materials, not defective or fake ones) can remain hydrophobic. When the temperature goes up to 300℃ or even above, only the ASTM standard aerogel materials can remain hydrophobic.

Burning characteristics

Qualified aerogel materials must be tested as non-flammable and non-smoke when burning or heating. Check our ASTM testing report

Density

Density is another specification to care about. Most aerogel material density is between 150 to 200kg/m3. If with the same base material, the lower density, the higher aerogel percentage, which means the better aerogel material.

Flexibility/stiffness

Flexibility/stiffness is another performance to care about. Application scenarios like small-size pipeline thermal insulation normally require ultra-flexible aerogel material for easy installation. Many high-temperature equipment insulation scenarios require higher stiffness for better mechanical strength.

Question 15: What’s the relation between insulation thickness, thermal conductivity, and thermal insulation effect of aerogel materials?

Answer:

Thermal conductivity is the property of the aerogel material type itself, and has nothing to do with insulation thickness;

With the same aerogel material type(the same thermal conductivity), the thicker insulation thickness, the better thermal insulation effect;

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Aerogel Thermal Insulation. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.