RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Towards the Optimization of Polyurethane Aerogel Properties by Densification: Exploring the Structure–Properties Relationship
A1 García‐González, Carlos A.
A1 Rodríguez Pérez, Miguel Ángel
A1 Merillas Valero, Beatriz
A1 Gómez Álvarez-Arenas, Tomás Enrique
K1 Polyurethane Aerogel
K1 Densification
K1 Ciencia de los materiales
AB The aerogel performance for industrial uses can be tailored using severalchemical and physical strategies. The effects of a controlled densification onpolyurethane aerogels are herein studied by analyzing their textural, mechanical,sound, optical, and thermal insulating properties. The produced aerogels areuniaxially compressed to different strains (30%–80%) analyzing the consequentchanges in the structures and, therefore, final properties. As expected, theirmechanical stiffness can be significantly increased by compression (until 55-foldhigher elastic modulus for 80%-strain), while the light transmittance does notnoticeably worsen until it is compressed more than 60%. Additionally, themodifications produced in the heat transfer contributions are analyzed, obtainingthe optimum balance between density increase and pore size reduction. Theminimum thermal conductivity (14.5%-reduction) is obtained by compressingthe aerogel to 50%-strain, where the increment in the solid conduction is surpassedby the reduction of the radiative and gas contributions. This strategyavoids tedious chemical modifications in the synthesis procedure to control thefinal structure of the aerogels, leading to the possibility of carefully adapting theirstructure and properties through a simple method such as densification. Thus, itallows to obtain aerogels for current and on-demand applications, which is one ofthe main challenges in the field.
PB Wiley-VCH
SN 2688-4062
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/76056
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/76056
LA eng
NO Small Structures, 2024, vol. 5, n. 10, 2400120
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 26-jun-2025