Silica aerogel has good properties for applying various industrial fields. However, the fragility of silica aerogel is one of the biggest obstacles. To solve this problem, this study manufactures polyurea silica aerogel composites through the pore res...
Silica aerogel has good properties for applying various industrial fields. However, the fragility of silica aerogel is one of the biggest obstacles. To solve this problem, this study manufactures polyurea silica aerogel composites through the pore restoration method. The solvents used for the pore restoration were n-hexane, ethanol, and acetone. The drying temperature was different for each solvent because of difference of boiling point of solvents. The sample with 9 wt% silica aerogel, 70 ℃ drying temperature, and n-hexane solvent for pore restoration showed the lowest thermal conductivity, 45.5 mW/m∙K. Thermal stability of polyurea silica aerogel composites was improved when n-hexane was used to pore restoration. To investigate structure of polyurea, density of the composites, morphology, thermal conductivity, and thermal stability, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), pycnometer, hydrometer, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal conductivity analyzer, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used.