Abstract
Polyurethane-silica aerogel (PUSA) composites have been synthesized in this study for thermal insulation applications. Silica Aerogel (SA) was synthesized from sodium silicate solution through a standard sol–gel process and ambient pressure drying. Previous research has shown that combining PU with SA in a composite causes brittle fracture at lower temperatures. This study proposes that PU was re-formulated with ethylene glycol (EG) as an antifreeze and chain extender to enhance the mechanical properties. In this experiment, different composites were produced having different SA concentrations (0.5 wt.%, 1.0 wt.%, 1.5 wt.%, and 2.0 wt.%). The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the PUSA composites as conducted by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) between 0 to -80 ℃ reveals the shift in Tg by as much as 12% with SA addition between 0.5–2.0 wt. %. PUSA composite with 1 wt.% SA demonstrates the highest compressive strength (0.56 MPa), while composite with 1.5 wt.% SA exhibited the lowest thermal conductivity (0.2 W/mK). PUSA composites containing 1.0–1.5 wt.% SA exhibited optimum mechanical strength and thermal insulation properties.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, for providing research facilities and financial support under Grants: UTM-Transdisciplinary Research (TDR) vot Q.J130000.3551.06G6606G66, UTM-Fundamental Research (UTM-FR) vot Q.J130000.2551.20H66 and UTM-High Impact Research Grant (HIR) vot Q.J130000.2551.20H6604G38.
Funding
This work was supported by Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) (Grant numbers: UTM-Transdisciplinary Research (TDR) vot Q.J130000.3551.06G6606G66, UTM-Fundamental Research (UTM-FR) vot Q.J130000.2551.20H66 and UTM-High Impact Research Grant (HIR) vot Q.J130000.2551.20H6604G38.
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I. Nuhu Experimental Work and Manuscript Writing. Z.A.A Halim Review of manuscript and analysis. N. Awang conceptualization and Data analysis. M.A.M Yajid Design of experiment and conceptualization. W.F.F Wan Ali Supervision of experimental work and Data analysis.
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Nuhu, I., Halim, Z.A.A., Awang, N. et al. Fabrication and Characterization of Thermally Insulating Polyurethane-Silica Aerogel Composite for Cryogenic Application. Silicon 16, 3405–3415 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-024-02933-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-024-02933-w