Cost-Effective Additive Manufacturing of Ambient Pressure-Dried Silica Aerogel
- Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260
The conventional manufacturing processes for aerogel insulation materials mostly rely on the supercritical drying, which suffers from issues of massive energy consumption, high-cost equipment, and prolonged processing time. Considering the large market demand for the aerogel insulation material in the next decade, a cost-effective and scalable fabrication technique is highly desired. In this paper, a direct ink writing (DIW) method is used to three-dimensionally fabricate the silica aerogel insulation material, followed by room-temperature and ambient pressure drying. Compared with the supercritical drying and freeze-drying techniques, the reported method significantly reduces the fabrication time and costs. The cost-effective DIW technique offers the capability to print complex hollow internal structures, coupled with the porous aerogel structure, it is found to be beneficial for the thermal insulation property. The addition of fiber to the ink assures the durability of the fabricated product, without sacrificing the thermal insulation performance. The foam ink preparation methods and the printability are demonstrated in this paper, along with the printing of complex three-dimensional geometries. The thermal insulation performance of the printed objects is characterized, and the mechanical properties were also examined. The proposed approach is found to have a 56% reduction in the processing time. The printed silica aerogels exhibit a low thermal conductivity of 0.053 W m-1 K-1.
- Research Organization:
- State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Albany, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0008675
- OSTI ID:
- 1848856
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, Vol. 143, Issue 1; ISSN 1087-1357
- Publisher:
- ASME
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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