VERY lightweight and durable material in the world is created based on underutilized OLD
Scientists have developed a technology that allows you to convert conventional aerogels in the strongest and lightest solid materials, which are also more transparent and almost as air. On the basis of new materials to create lightweight body armor for soldiers stronger armor for tanks and more durable building materials, the researchers said.
The materials could also be used for better insulation of windows, creating a more durable tires and more reliable designs of aircraft and spacecraft.
The results of studies that describe the characteristics and properties of these materials have been published in the September 12 issue Nano Letters - Appendix Journal of the American Chemical Society.
We took the lightest material available and made it 100 times more durable. It was the easiest and most durable material in the world, says Nicholas Leventis, Ph. D., a chemist at the University of Missouri-Rolla and the lead author of the article.
Our material appears as the basis for the creation of any lightweight and strong materials that will be needed in the market.
Aerogels were first created in the 1930s. They remained only as a laboratory research materials until the 1960s, when scientists began to consider them as a medium for storage of liquid rocket fuel. The first aerogels were made of silica and had a chemical composition identical enamel.
Aerogels have so far been extremely labile and easily absorbed moisture, which limits their practical application.
In an effort aimed at improving the properties of these materials, Leventis and his colleagues decided to combine molecular strands of tiny particles of silica (glass) with a polyurethane (plastic). But the resulting combined basis for their material was still too labile.
Then the researchers decided to bond chemically with the molecular structure of the glass fibers with poliizotsianatligninom, one of the varieties of polyurethane. Like the very first aerogels obtained materials were almost transparent as air. But a new chemical approach to the construction of a new molecular structure resulted in aerogels that were 100 times more resistant to decay, and almost completely insensitive to humidity compared to the original types of aerogels made from simple silica.
Aerogels are also characterized by high resistance to heat, which allows their use as insulating materials. In the near future, the new nanocomposite aerogels are likely to be used as materials for windows, insulators, coolers and thermoses, predicts Leventis.
Other areas of application materials may be directed to the creation of stronger car bumpers and stronger, lighter body armor. New materials are still able to maintain liquid fuel, which will make them more reliable and more durable fuel tanks for aircraft and rocket launchers.
The researchers recently received a patent on the formula of new technology of production of aerogels. They soon plan to make aerogels even stronger.
Contact information:
Beverly Hassell, b_hassell@acs.org, 202-872-4065, American Chemical Society
