Category: Transient Plane Source
Author(s): Bin Ding, Jianlong Ge, Jianyong Yu, Xiaomin Tang, Yang Si
Keywords: Aerogel, damping materials, FIBER NFAs, insulation, Thermal Conductivity, thermal insulation, Transient Plane Source, Transient plane source (TPS) method, Ultralight nanofibre
Abstract: Due to their high compressibility and resilience, nanofibrous aerogels (NFAs) have been proven to have positive insluative impacts on various applications with electronics and material damping. Up until this study, the fabrication of such nanofibers had proven to be very difficult. The scientists of this study homogenized nanofibre membranes, PAN/BA-a and SiO2 to create a nanofiber dispersion. This nanofiber dispersion was then freeze-dried to create uncrosslinked NFAs. The NFAs then underwent crosslinking, to create the final product: crosslinked FIBER (fibrous, isotropically bonded elastic reconstructed) NFAs. These FIBER NFAs exhibit rapid recovery from deformation and tremendous energy absorption with both sound and thermal insulation. It has been noted that continuous, dense fibers elicit an increased structural strength and resilience, as compared to non-continuous, fluffy cotton-like nanofibers. It is expected that the FIBER NFAs will open a world of opportunities in advancing technologies such as heat insulators, scaffolds, dampers and electrodes.
Reference: Nature Communications 5: 5802 (2014)
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6802