Université de Fribourg

Effect of aging on thermal conductivity of fiber-reinforced aerogel composites: An X-ray tomography study

Iswara, Subramaniam ; Griffa, Michele ; Kaufmann, Rolf ; Beltran, Mario ; Huber, Lukas ; Brunner, Samuel ; Lattuada, Marco ; M.Koebel, Matthias ; Malfait, Wim J.

In: Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 2019, vol. 278, p. 289–296

Silica aerogels display an ultra-low thermal conductivity (λ) and are used as thermal superinsulators. Here, we study the influence of aging and drying processes on the microstructure and thermal conductivity of fiber-reinforced silica aerogel composites. Glass wool-silica gel composites were aged for variable times, hydrophobized, and dried either at ambient pressure or from supercritical...