Abstract
Polymer-crosslinked aerogels bear a conformal polymer coating that connects covalently the skeletal nanoparticles of otherwise typical aerogels. The bulk density remains low, but the specific compressive strength of the resulting materials is higher than those of mild steel and aluminum, while the ability to store energy may surpass that of armor-grade ceramics. This chapter places polymer-crosslinked aerogels in the broader perspective of polymer/sol–gel composites, while the effects of the crosslinking chemistry and network morphology are reviewed from a mechanical property point of view.
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Acknowledgments
This project has been supported by the NASA Glenn Research Center Science Advisory Board, the University of Missouri Research Board, the US National Science Foundation under CMMI-0653919/0653970 and CHE-0809562, and the Army Research office under W911NF-10-1-0476. We also wish to thank our many collaborators at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, NASA GRC, Oklahoma State University, and the University of North Texas who have made crosslinked aerogels (X-Aerogels) possible: Antonella Alunni, Prof. Massimo Bertino, Dr. Lynn Capadona, Alex Capecelatro, Naveen Chandrasekaran, Chakkaravarthy Chidambareswarapattar, Gitogo Churu, Joe Counsil, Dr. Paul Curto, Amala Dass, Dr. Eve Fabrizio, Abigail Hobbs, Dr. U. Faysal Ilhan, Dr. J. Chris Johnston, Atul Kati, Dr. James Kinder, Dr. Huiyang Luo, Shruti Mahadik, Linda McCorkle, Dr. Mary Ann Meador, Dhairyashil Mohite, Dr. Sudhir Mulik, Anna Palczer, Vishal Patil, Prof. Abdel-Monem Rawashdeh, Prof. Samit Roy, Anand Sadekar, Dan Scheiman, Jennifer Schnobrich, Nilesh Shimpi, Prof. Chariklia Sotiriou-Leventis, Jeff Thomas, Plousia Vassilaras, Xiaojiang Wang, and Dr. Guohui Zhang.
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Leventis, N., Lu, H. (2011). Polymer-Crosslinked Aerogels. In: Aegerter, M., Leventis, N., Koebel, M. (eds) Aerogels Handbook. Advances in Sol-Gel Derived Materials and Technologies. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7589-8_13
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