X-Message-Number: 9705
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 09:49:11 -0400
From: Bozzonetti <>
Subject: NASA on insulation

NASA and aerogel tiles

There is a press release from NASA about new aerogel tiles, it could be
interesting in the cryostat making work:

>>>>>>>>
Don Nolan-Proxmire
Headquarters, Washington, DC                         May 4, 1998
(Phone:  202/358-1983)

John Bluck
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
(Phone:  650/604-5026)

RELEASE:  98-76

CONCEPT FOR SPACECRAFT 'SOLID SMOKE' TILES CAN BE USED ON EARTH

     A new concept for spacecraft tiles also can be used on Earth 
to make efficient, vacuum-like insulation for refrigerators, 
furnaces and automobile catalytic converters.

     The new material is similar to that used for the tiles on the 
Space Shuttle to protect the vehicle from the heat generated 
during reentry into Earth's atmosphere.  However, the new tiles 
have a layer of aerogel, or 'solid smoke,' mixed into the tile's 
air spaces.

     "Solid smoke, or aerogel, works like a vacuum layer because 
it's a great insulator," said aerogel tile co-inventor Dr. Susan 
White of NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.  "The new 
aerogel tiles can insulate spacecraft from ten to 100 times better 
than today's tiles."

     Aerogel is made of silica, alumina and carbon as well as 
other materials, and can weigh less than the same volume of air.  
"The aerogel used to fill the air spaces inside the tiles is like 
strings of nanosized pearls, all tangled up," White said.  A 
nanometer is a billionth of a meter.

     The fibers that form the tiles are mostly a mixture of silica 
and alumina oxides, according to co-inventor Dr. Daniel Rasky, 
also of Ames.  The spaces inside the untreated spacecraft tiles 
are less than a millimeter wide.

     "The reason the aerogel tile composite will act as a great 
insulator for keeping freezers cold, or automobile catalytic 
converters hot, is that the air flowing through the tile is almost 
completely blocked by aerogel," White said. "It is like having a 
chunk of solid vacuum where you need it."

     "Aerogel is very brittle and can't be machined, but 
spacecraft insulation tiles filled with a layer of aerogel can be 
cut, machined, drilled and attached to a surface," White said.  
"Aerogel-tile insulation can be made into different shapes for 
many uses here on Earth."

     The aerogel space-tile material could be used in commercial 
products that require mechanically tough super-insulation, such as 
catalytic converters for cars or specialty refrigeration units.  
In addition, the new material potentially could be used for 
furnaces; for liquefied gas transport trucks; or for liquid carbon 
dioxide, special nitrogen and oxygen containers.

     The new aerogel tiles could also be used to insulate future 
spacecraft from the heat of reentry into the atmosphere.  "Not 
only will the aerogel tiles protect future spacecraft from very 
high reentry temperatures, the materials also will better protect 
spacecraft from ice formed on the extremely cold fuel tanks when 
the vehicle is waiting on the pad for launch," White said.

     High temperature and environmental testing of aerogel space 
tiles was conducted at Ames for seven years.  A patent is pending 
for the new material.

     NASA actively encourages commercialization of its 
technologies.  To learn more about NASA innovations, 
commercialization efforts and the agency's technology transfer 
programs, interested parties can call 1-800/678-6882 or access the 
NASA Commercial Technology Network web page at URL:

                http://nctn.hq.nasa.gov/
>>>>>>>

Any comments?

                Yvan Bozzonetti.

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