Supplying the science hobbyist, industry, government, schools & universities since 1998.
"We specialize in small orders"

Aerogel

   

    What is Aerogel?

Aerogel is made from Silicon Dioxide, the same material as ordinary Glass,
only 1,000 times less dense.

  Aerogel (also called 'frozen smoke' because of its hazy blue appearance), is a truly remarkable material.
It is the lightest and lowest-density solid known to exist, and holds an unbelievable
15 entries in the Guinness Book of World  Records, including best insulator and lowest density solid.
Aerogel is composed of 99.8% air and is chemically similar to ordinary glass.

Being
the world's lightest known solid, it weighs only three times that of air.

 When handled, Aerogel feels like a very light, hard foam. Being chemically similar to glass, it also happens to shatter like glass, yet is incredibly strong structurally, and can support thousands of times its own weight. Theoretically, a block weighing less than a pound could support a weight of half a ton.
Due to its microstructure, Aerogel is a powerful desiccant, rapidly absorbing any moisture in your fingertips when held. This usually leaves some dry spots on the skin that disappear in a short time.
 Aerogel's true strength is its incredible insulating properties. It negates just about any kind of
energy transfer - thermal, electrical or acoustic.
A one-inch thick Aerogel window has the same insulation value as 15 panes of glass and trapped air - which means a conventional window would have to be ten-inches thick to equal a one-inch thick Aerogel window.

Aerogel's density is just 3 milligrams per cubic centimeter.
Its melting point is 2,200 degrees F (1,200 degrees C).

A large panel of Aerogel was most recently used by NASA in the Stardust mission, which successfully collected collect comet & interstellar dust samples & returned them to Earth. Previously, it was used in the Mars Pathfinder Rover to insulate its components from the large temperature swings on Mars.

 The Aerogel array in NASA's
Stardust spacecraft, used to
capture comet & dust particles.

 

A 3,000°F blowtorch under a thin slice of Aerogel
has no effect on the crayons on top.

A brick supported by a small block
of Aerogel

 

The one drawback about this amazing material is its price.
Unfortunately it's very expensive in solid block/chunk form.

Note about larger block samples:
We currently have a limited supply of odd-shaped, large & small samples of Aerogel for sale.
We have attempted to obtain larger, uniform shapes (blocks, disks, etc) without much luck.
These larger uniform shapes are currently reserved for JPL and NASA use only.
We will continue to try and obtain larger blocks & disks, and will post any updates
on this page as soon as they are available.
Granular Aerogel is much less expensive than the solid blocks of Aerogel are.
When possible, try to use the granular form in your project instead of the solid block/chunk form. 

 

Typical Small Aerogel samples

Typical Aerogel Fragments ( 5 dram vial )

Granular Aerogel ( 100 cc  container )

Granular Aerogel particle size

Aerogel - granular, 100cc: $5.00

Aerogel - granular, 250cc: $12.00

Aerogel - granular, 500cc: $20.00

Aerogel - granular, 950cc: $35.00

Aerogel - Fragments, vial: $45.00

Aerogel - Small Sample: $45.00

MSDS ( Material Safety Data Sheet )

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