Aerogel is still a relatively unfamiliar vocabulary for ordinary people, but international materials and scientific fields have a soft spot for it. This kind of "revolutionary new material" always brings surprises. . Aerogel is currently known as the world's lightest solid material with the best thermal insulation performance. It has the characteristics of ultra-lightweight, very low thermal conductivity, high thermal stability, high adsorption, high energy absorption, and sound insulation. , Petrochemical, metallurgy, pipeline, thermal equipment, construction, aerospace and military fields have very wide application value and potential.
Aerogel is internationally called one of the “ten magical materials that change the world” and holds 15 Guinness World Records. It is understood that aerogels began to be used in the aerospace field in the 1970s. In 2002, NASA converted aerospace material technology to industrial applications and used supercritical technology to produce aerogel felts, which was called a revolutionary in the industrial field. Insulation scheme. Since then, scientific research institutes and industrial enterprises have begun to dabble in the research and application of aerogels, and a wave of research and development of aerogel products has ushered in the international community.
So what is the research and application of aerogel in the world, and what is the current state of my country? For this, the reporter interviewed Lu Hongbing, a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, and asked him to analyze the development of my country's aerogel industry from an international perspective.
Hongbing Lu, received a bachelor's degree from Huazhong Institute of Technology in 1986, a master's degree in engineering mechanics from Tsinghua University in December 1988, and a doctorate in aeronautics from California Institute of Technology in 1997. He is currently a professor and deputy head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is also a Correspondence Fellow of the American Academy of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Professor Lu and his team have been engaged in the preparation and modification of a new generation of high-toughness aerogels for more than ten years. They have successfully prepared polymer toughened inorganic (such as silica) aerogels and polymer aerogels. Invented a low-cost, high-efficiency, rapid, and large-scale production of high-toughness aerogels for the fields of sound insulation and heat insulation.
Open up an international perspective to solve our own problems
When the reporter asked how the development and application of aerogels are progressing internationally and domestically, Lu Hongbing said: "The current international and domestic research and development directions of aerogels are the same. In recent years, domestic research and development have begun to catch up. , And the momentum is strong, and it may surpass the international level in the near future. Because many developed countries have already managed the environment very well, the pressure on it in terms of energy saving and emission reduction is not great. There are more researches on aerogels. Some companies are trying to reduce costs, or it can be said to be icing on the cake."
Take the United States as an example. In fact, it is not a country that saves money. The average energy consumption in the United States is about 10 times that of China. Although the United States has very strict energy conservation standards, it is not a real waste, but due to the large living area per capita and the scattered residence, the energy consumption is large. Lu Hongbing said: “I take my own house as an example. Because the US energy efficiency standards are very high, the building standard for the roof insulation of the new house is R60, which means that the thickness of the glass fiber needs to be 30 inches. The outer walls are mainly bricks. , Generally 3 inches, and 6 inches in cold places.” However, it is difficult to implement this standard in China because China has a large population and a large demand for resources. Every family uses such thick insulation materials. Obviously it is not in line with reality, so China should be more urgent for the research and development of thin and energy-saving materials.
According to Hongbing Lu, there are currently many international schools that have conducted systematic research on aerogels, such as the Los Angeles Campus of Canada, Michigan State University, and many European countries as a research direction. He said: "I am also currently cooperating with Missouri University of Science and Technology. I originally did research on aerogel applications in Naval Research. Because traditional aerogels are very brittle and require tougher materials for applications, I tried The traditional aerogel is coated with a thin polymer material on the basis of nano-soluble, which looks the same as the traditional aerogel, but the toughness is very good, and other materials are no longer needed as the matrix material. It is also found in the research. The sound insulation performance is very good. I think this is also a good solution to the domestic noise pollution problem."
At present, the application of aerogels in developed countries is also focused on thermal insulation, but there are many research directions for them, including inorganic aerogels, organic aerogels, inorganic-organic hybrid aerogels, and carbon aerogels. The organic aerogels that have been developed have the functions of heat preservation and sound insulation, and can be used directly, and the industrial production process is not very complicated. Because this new technology material has just been developed and the production cost is still relatively high, it has not yet been widely used. Lu Hongbing said: "I really want to promote the application of aerogels. The aerogel innovation application promotion center you have established can pass on the most advanced technology in the world to domestic institutions. At the beginning, we should guide the application of aerogels to high-end In the field, the price will naturally come down after the production technology matures, so that more fields can apply this new material."
Concentrating superior resources, will surely catch up
Lu Hongbing is very confident in the research and development and application of domestic aerogels. He said: “For the research and development of aerogels, the country lags behind a bit at the beginning, but the current government attaches great importance to environmental protection issues and is improving energy conservation. Standards such as fire protection and fire protection have promoted the development and application of aerogels. The growing endogenous power has made the compound growth rate of the aerogel industry in the past two years have surpassed that of the United States, and will surely be at the international leading level in the future. " As aerogel products are more expensive than traditional insulation materials, but in the long run, their overall cost will be lower, and the pressure on the environment will be less, and their overall benefits are better than traditional insulation materials. Therefore, we cannot rely solely on the market in promoting the application of aerogels. The country's role in promoting is very crucial. Lu Hongbing said: "Because of the fierce competition in foreign R&D, it is difficult to give a large amount of superior resources to a certain professor or industry. However, the country currently attaches great importance to energy conservation and environmental protection, and can concentrate strong resources on some relatively strong R&D teams. The aerogel industry is relatively easy to develop and grow through high-investment research and development. At present, the domestic aerogel field has also begun to increase exchanges with the international community, which has gradually changed the old theoretical situation. This is a very good thing. phenomenon."
It is understood that the aerogel research and development in the United States is self-published by market-oriented companies. There is rarely a national level support like ours. Therefore, the development of the industry is largely determined by economic interests. Lu Hongbing believes that it is the state-owned enterprises like Beijing Construction Engineering that are engaged in the research and development and promotion of aerogels. It is more for social and environmental benefits to invest a lot of human, material and financial resources in order to better promote it. The development of aerogel industry.
Do fine heat preservation and heat insulation, develop and promote application
Hongbing Lu pointed out that in the promotion and application of aerogels in China, the advantages in the field of thermal insulation have been very obvious. Therefore, the thermal insulation function of aerogel products must be improved and refined, and in the research process Field extension, such as the sound insulation function that has been discovered so far. When Hongbing Lu saw the yurt model made by aerogel felt by the company in Beijing Construction Engineering New Materials Co., he was very excited and said: "This yurt you made is a very good innovation, and it is also an aerogel application field. An exploration. The current common silica aerogel can do academic research is relatively limited, product development and production is not very difficult, because the application field of aerogel is very wide, and there are many difficulties to be solved Therefore, the key to the development of the current aerogel industry lies in product applications."
It is understood that these aerogel felt yurts are developed and produced for Mongolia. In Mongolia, the temperature in winter will be as low as -40°C. In order to meet the 75% energy-saving standard stipulated by the country, the thickness of traditional felt needs to reach 180mm. The thickness of the yurt felt is 10mm~30mm, which cannot meet the energy-saving standards. In winter, people living in it will be very cold and need to continuously burn a lot of energy for heating.
Using aerogel felt as an insulation layer, it only needs a thickness of 50mm to reach the 75% energy-saving standard required by the country. When the temperature is about 20°C outdoors, it can be heated to 50°C indoors without performing hot and cold air exchange. Under the premise of this temperature difference will continue to be maintained. Therefore, people can truly realize the good life of sitting in a comfortable and warm yurt in the severe snowy winter, eating roast leg of lamb and drinking mare cumin.
This article comes from China Insulation Network
