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Aerogel Sintering: From Optical Glasses to Nuclear Waste Containment

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Handbook of Sol-Gel Science and Technology

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Abstract

Aerogels are ultraporous materials with a very low permeability. They exhibit high specific surface area but, due to their huge porous volume, their mechanical properties are quite poor. Aerogels belong to two main families: inorganic materials as silica, silicates, and a few aluminates and organic aerogels which are easily transformed into carbon aerogels by a simple pyrolysis thermal treatment. In this chapter, we mainly report experiments performed on alcohol-dried aerogels. Due to their broad range of porosity, aerogels can fit in very different applications: from analysis of cosmic dust to nuclear waste containment glasses. Advantages of large porosity are sometimes used directly like in thermal and acoustic insulation, or in catalyzers, but a too high pore volume can also be a drawback like in glass precursor and host matrix. Fortunately, aerogel porosity can be tailored using sintering or room isostatic compression or eventually a combination of both methods. Knowledge in this area allows now to synthesize aerogels with a broad range of porosity and also a very broad range of texture.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the editors of Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Journal of Sol–Gel Science and Technology, Journal of Material Science for their permission to publish figures here reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, Université Montpellier 2, Place E. Bataillon, 34095, Cedex 5, Montpellier, France

    J. Phalippou, P. Dieudonné & A. Faivre

  2. IMBE, CNRS, IRD, Aix Marseille Université, Avignon Université- Campus Agro Environnemental Caraïbes-B.P. 214 Petit Morne, 97232, Le Lamentin, Martinique

    Thierry Woignier

  3. Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, Avignon Université, UMR CNRS 7263, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Bâtiment 12, 2 place Viala, 13397, Marseille, France

    Thierry Woignier

Authors
  1. J. Phalippou
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  2. P. Dieudonné
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  3. A. Faivre
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  4. Thierry Woignier
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thierry Woignier .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA

    Lisa Klein

  2. Madrid, Spain

    Mario Aparicio

  3. City University of New York, New York, USA

    Andrei Jitianu

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Phalippou, J., Dieudonné, P., Faivre, A., Woignier, T. (2016). Aerogel Sintering: From Optical Glasses to Nuclear Waste Containment. In: Klein, L., Aparicio, M., Jitianu, A. (eds) Handbook of Sol-Gel Science and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19454-7_56-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19454-7_56-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19454-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Chemistry and Mat. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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