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移（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为气凝胶（一种超轻型结构材料，可以减少汽车、飞机和火箭的燃料消耗和排放）提供经济实惠的制造工艺。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。新型结构耐用的气凝胶可以作为塑料的超轻替代品，在汽车轻量化、节能建筑和超轻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，降低运营成本，减少对典型燃料的依赖，减少运输和建筑部门的排放。它还将有利于人造组织支架、服装、防弹背心和能源储存。这个STTR一期项目将推进气凝胶的转化。由于高压批处理，目前单片气凝胶的制造既具有挑战性又昂贵。这项工作将开发一种首创的、可能连续的、加速的常压冷冻干燥技术，以经济高效地制造无限尺寸的单片聚合物气凝胶。这将需要多学科的方法，包括冷冻干燥、流体物理和纳米多孔介质，其中射流冲击阵列将被用来实现接近真空工艺的干燥速度，而不需要真空或压力室。该研究将重点关注与从溶胶-凝胶衍生的纳米多孔凝胶介质中去除溶剂有关的传质现象，而不会破坏凝胶的精致骨架框架。研究计划包括流体流动建模和实验，以证明大规模平移的工艺可行性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.