STTR Phase I: Continuous Manufacturing of Mechanically-Robust, Superinsulating Aerogel Monoliths and Thin Films via a New Ambient-Pressure Freeze Drying Technology

这个小型企业技术转让(STTR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是实现可负担得起的气凝胶制造工艺，气凝胶是一种超轻结构材料，可以减少汽车、飞机和火箭的燃料消耗和排放。气凝胶是一种超轻材料，具有无与伦比的隔热、隔音和吸能性能。新型结构耐久的气凝胶可以作为塑料的超轻型替代品，在车辆轻量化、节能建筑和超轻型装甲方面具有潜在的应用前景。拟议的工作有助于将这些材料转化为应用，并降低运营成本、对典型燃料的依赖以及交通和建筑部门的排放。它还将有利于人造组织支架、服装、防弹背心和能量储存。这一STTRI期项目将推进气凝胶的转化。由于高压间歇处理，整体气凝胶的制造目前具有挑战性且成本高昂。这项拟议的工作将开发一种首创的、可能是连续的、加速的常压冷冻干燥技术，以实现无限制尺寸的整体式聚合物气凝胶的成本效益制造。这将需要一种集成冷冻干燥、流体物理和纳米多孔介质的多学科方法，其中将使用射流冲击阵列来实现接近真空过程的干燥速度，而不需要真空或压力室。这项研究将集中在与从溶胶-凝胶衍生的纳米孔凝胶介质中去除溶剂有关的传质现象，而不会破坏凝胶的微妙骨架。该研究计划包括流体流动建模和实验，以证明大规模翻译的过程可行性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to enable affordable manufacturing process for aerogel, an ultralight structural material that can reduce the fuel consumption and emissions of cars, planes, and rockets. Aerogels are a class of ultralight materials exhibiting unparalleled thermal insulation, soundproofing, and energy-absorbing properties. New structurally-durable aerogels can serve as ultralight alternatives to plastics with potential applications in vehicle lightweighting, energy-efficient buildings, and ultralight armor. The proposed work facilitates transitioning these materials to applications and reducing operating costs, reliance on typical fuels, and emissions in the transportation and construction sectors. It will also benefit artificial tissue scaffolds, apparel, bulletproof vests, and energy storage. This STTR Phase I project will advance the translation of aerogels. Manufacturing monolithic aerogels is currently challenging and expensive because of high-pressure batch processing. The proposed work will develop a first-of-its-kind, potentially continuous, accelerated atmospheric-pressure freeze drying technology to enable cost-efficient manufacturing of monolithic polymer-based aerogels of unlimited dimensions. This will require a multidisciplinary approach integrating freeze drying, fluid physics, and nanoporous media in which jet impingement arrays will be used to achieve drying rates approaching a vacuum-based process without requiring a vacuum or pressure chamber. The research will focus on mass transfer phenomena related to removal of solvent from sol-gel-derived nanoporous gel media without damaging the gel's delicate skeletal framework. The research plan includes fluid flow modeling and experiments to demonstrate process feasibility for large-scale translation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.