What is aerogel insulation?

What is aerogel insulation?

Have you ever thought about insulating your construction project with gel? We know it sounds crazy, but hold on. Maybe you should.

It might be that gel is traditionally thought of as a wet substance, but “aerogel” is something completely different! Aerogels are synthetic low-density materials formed by removing the liquid from a gel under special drying conditions, bypassing the shrinkage and cracking experienced during ambient evaporation. This creates a solid three-dimensional nanoporous structure containing almost 99% air – hence the name!

Aerogel is a flexible blanket insulation that can reduce energy loss whilst conserving interior space in residential and commercial building applications. It’s typically applied for complete coverage in walls, floors and roofs as well as in framing and windows to provide maximum energy efficiency.

Aerogel can relatively easily be dubbed a revolutionary advancement in thermal technology – after all, its offering the thinnest insulation available to prevent thermal and cold bridging. Aerogel has the highest insulation value of any known material with the lowest thermal conductivity value of any solid (0.015W/mK). It’s the thinnest and arguably easiest solution to insulate hard to treat areas, especially where space is at a premium and where critical tolerances have to be achieved.

The unusual properties of aerogels open the door to a new range of opportunities for their application in the building sector. One of its main benefits is excellent insulating abilities, providing energy and cost savings due to the reduced loss of heated or conditioned indoor air. All that, and it’s also user-friendly, recyclable and reusable – in fact, aerogel has the potential to achieve U-values as low as 0.1 W/m2.K.

So – in summary – aerogel is a sustainable, high performing insulation material that is coined as the thinnest and easiest solution to insulate hard to treat areas. Maybe it’s not crazy – maybe we should consider insulating our construction project with gel.

What do you think? Let us know on our Linkedin post!

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