Insulation Materials

Laboratory advances the art and science of aerogels

University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have recently demonstrated a novel method for chemically modifying and enhancing silica-based aerogels without sacrificing the aerogels unique properties.

26 August 2004: DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

Aerogels: 'Solid smoke' may have many uses

It looks like glass and feels like solidified smoke, but the most interesting features of the new silica aerogels made by UC Davis and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers are too small to see or feel. Lighter than styrofoam, this strange material is riddled with pores just nanometers in size, leaving it 98 percent empty.

02 April 2004: University of California, Davis