Experimental Analysis of Thermal Conductive Properties on Aerogel-Filled Composite Structure

Aerogels are well known for its ultimate thermal resistive characteristics and its low density, i.e., several times less than air. Because of these favorable properties, aerogels are mostly used in thermal insulations. The main drawbacks of these insulations are poor strength and limited operating temperatures. In this paper, an attempt has been made to enhance the strength and broaden the range of operating temperature of the insulation made of silicon aerogel. To acquire these properties, a composite structure filled with silicon aerogel has been proposed and experimentally investigated to evaluate its thermal conductivity at different temperatures and heat flow rates. Results have been compared with empty structure and glass wool-filled structure by using plots. From the plots, it was concluded that the structure filled with the aerogel has less thermal conductivity than the other structures and also the percentage change of thermal conductivity was determined at different temperatures with different heat transfer rates.