Abstract
Aerogels are multifunctional porous nanostructured materials (e.g., thermally/acoustically insulating) derived from their vast internal empty space and their high specific surface area. Under certain conditions, aerogels may also have exceptional specific mechanical properties as well. The mechanical characteristics of aerogels are discussed in this chapter. First, we summarize work conducted on the mechanical characterization of traditional aerogels, and second, we describe the mechanical behavior of polymer crosslinked aerogels. In polymer crosslinked aerogels, a few nanometer thick conformal polymer coating is applied on secondary particles without clogging the pores, thus preserving the multifunctionality of the native framework while improving mechanical strength. The mechanical properties were characterized under both quasi-static loading conditions (dynamic mechanical analysis, compression, and flexural bending testing) as well as under high strain rate loading conditions using a split Hopkinson pressure bar. The effects of strain rate, mass density, loading–unloading, moisture concentration, and low temperature on the mechanical properties were evaluated. Digital image correlation was used to measure the surface strains through analysis of images acquired by ultrahigh-speed photography for calculation of properties including dynamic Poisson’s ratio. Among remarkable results described herewith, crosslinked vanadia aerogels remain ductile even at −180°C, a property derived from interlocking and sintering-like fusion of skeletal nanoworms during compression.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Kistler SS (1931) Coherent expanded aerogels and jellies. Nature 127: 741–741
Kistler SS (1932) Coherent expanded-aerogels. J Phys Chem 36: 52–64
Kistler SS (1935) The relationship between heat conductivity and structure in silica aerogel. J Phys Chem 39: 79–86
Kearby K, Kistler SS, Swann S Jr. (1938) Aerogel catalyst: conversion of alcohols to amines. Ind Eng Chem 30: 1082–1086
Kistler SS, Fisher EA, Freeman IR (1943) Sorption and surface area in silica aerogel. J Am Chem Soc 65: 1909–1919
Gesser HD, Goswami PC (1989) Aerogels and related porous materials. Chem Rev 89: 765–788
Hench LL, West JK (1990) The sol-gel process. Chem Rev 90: 33–72
Pierre AC, Pajong GM (2002) Chemistry of aerogels and their applications. Chem Rev 102: 4243–4265
Hrubesh LW, Poco JF (1995) Thin aerogel films for optical, thermal, acoustic and electronic applications. J Non-Cryst Solids 188: 46–53
Schmidt M, Schwertfeger F (1998) Applications for silica aerogel products. J Non-Cryst Solids 225: 364–368
Fricke J, Emmerling A (1998) Aerogels-recent progress in production techniques and novel applications. J Sol-Gel Sci Tech 13: 299–303
Akimov YK (2002) Fields of application of aerogels (review). Instrum Exp Tech 46: 287–299
Pajonk GM (2003) Some applications of silica aerogels. Colloid Polym Sci 281: 637–651
Smirnova I, Suttiruengwong S, Arlt W (2004) Feasibility study of hydrophilic and hydrophobic silica aerogels as drug delivery systems. J Non-Cryst Solids 350: 54–60
Jones SM (2006) Aerogel: space exploration applications. J Sol-Gel Sci Techn 40: 351–357
Jones SM (2007) A method for producing gradient density aerogel. J Sol-Gel Sci Techn 44: 255–258
Fricke J (1988) Aerogels-highly tenuous solids with fascinating properties. J Non-Cryst Solids 100: 169–173
Woignier T, Reynes J, Alaoui AH, Beurroies I, Phalippou J (1998) Different kinds of structure in aerogels: relationships with the mechanical properties. J Non-Cryst Solids 241: 45–52
Miner MR, Hosticka B, Norris PM (2004) The effects of ambient humidity on the mechanical properties and surface chemistry of hygroscopic silica aerogel. J Non-Cryst Solids 350: 285–289
Wingfield C, Baski A, Bertino1 MF, Leventis N, Mohite DP, and Lu H (2009) Fabrication of sol-gel materials with anisotropic physical properties by photo-cross-linking. Chem Mater 21: 2108–2114
Scherer GW, Smith DM, Qiu X, Anderson LM (1995) Compression of aerogel. J Non-Cryst Solids 186: 316–320
Scherer GW (1998) Characterization of aerogels. Adv Colloid Interface Sci 76: 321–339
Knauss WG, Emri I, and Lu H (2008) Mechanics of Polymers: Viscoelasticity, in Handbook of Experimental Solid Mechanics, pp 49–95, ed. by Sharpe Jr and William N, Springer, USA
Struik LCE (1978) Physical Aging in Amorphous Polymers and Other Materials. Elsevier, Amsterdam, North-Holland
Lu H, Tan G, Chen W (2001) Modeling of constitutive behavior for Epon 828/T-403 at high strain rates. Mech Time-Depend Mater 5: 119–130
Gama BA, Lopatnikov SL, Gillespie JW (2004) Hopkinson bar experimental technique: A critical review. Appl Mech Rev 57: 223–250
Krautkramer K (1969) Ultrasonic Testing of Materials, Springer-Verlag, New York
Ensminger D (1988) Ultrasonics: Fundamentals, Technology, Applications, M. Dekker, New York
Woignier T, Phalippou J (1988) Mechanical strength of silica aerogels. J Non-Cryst Solids 100: 404–408
Woignier T, Phalippou J, Hdach H, Larnac G, Pernot F, Scherer GW (1992) Evolution of mechanical properties during the alcogel-aerogel-glass process. J Non-Cryst Solids 147: 672–680
Calas S, Despetis F, Woignier T, Phalippou J (1997) Mechanical Strength Evolution from Aerogels to Silica Glass. J Porous Mater 4: 211–217
Capadona LA, Meador MAB, Alunni A, Fabrizio EF, Vassilaras P, Leventis N (2006) Flexible, low-density polymer crosslinked silica aerogels. Polymer 47: 5754–5761
Kanamori K, Aizawa M, Nakanishi K, Hanada T (2007) New transparent methylsilsesquioxane aerogels and xerogels with improved mechanical properties. Adv Mater 19: 1589–1593
Rosa-Fox NDL, Morales-Florez V, Toledo-Fernandez JA, Pinero M, Esquivias L, Keiderling U (2008) SANS study of hybrid silica aerogels under “in-situ” uniaxial compression. J Sol-Gel Sci Techn 45: 245–250
Grob J, Schlief T, Fricke J (1993) Ultrasonic evaluation of elastic properties of silica aerogels. Mater Sci Eng A168: 235–238
Fricke J (1990) SiO2-aerogels: Modification and applications. J Non-Cryst Solids 121: 188–192
Grob J, Fricke J (1995) Scaling of elastic properties in highly porous nanostructured aerogels. NanoStruct Mater 6: 905–908
Forest L, Gibiat V, Woignier T (1998) Biot's theory of acoustic propagation in porous media applied to aerogels and alcogels. J Non-Cryst Solids 225: 287–292
Abramoff B, Klein LC (2005) Elastic Properties of Silica Xerogels. J Am Ceram Soc 73: 3466–3469
Moner-Girona M, Roig A, Molins E, Martinez E, Esteve J (1999) Micromechanical properties of silica aerogel. Appl Phys Lett 75:653–655
Moner-Girona M, Martinez E, Roig A, Esteve J, Molins (2001) Mechanical properties of silica aerogels measured by microindentation: influence of sol-gel processing parameters and carbon addition. J Non-Cryst Solids 285: 244–250
Kucheyev SO, Hamza AV, Satcher Jr JH, Worsley MA (2009) Depth-sensing indentation of low-density brittle nanoporous solid. Acta Mater 57: 3472–3480
Rosa-Fox NDL, Morales-Florez V, Toledo-Fernandez JA, Pinero M, Mendoza-Serna R, Esquivias L (2007) Nanoindentation on hybrid organic/inorganic silica aerogel. J Eur Ceram Soc 27: 3311–3316
Kucheyev SO, Baumann TF, Cox CA, Wang YM, Bradby JE (2006) Nanoengineering mechanically robust aerogels via control of foam morphology. Appl Phys Lett 89: 041911–3
Oliver WC and Pharr GM (1992) An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments. J Mater Res 7: 1564–1583
Stark RW, Drobek T, Weth M, Fricke J, Heckl WM (1998) Determination of elastic properties of single aerogel powder particles with the AFM. Ultramicroscopy 75: 161–169
Vincent A, Babu S, Seal S (2007) Surface elastic properties of porous nanosilica coating by scanning force microscopy. Appl Phys Lett 91: 161901–3
Tan C, Fung BM, Newman JK, Vu C (2001) Organic aerogels with very high impact strength. Adv Mater 13: 644–646
Ma HS, Prevost JH, Jullien R, Scherer GW (2001) Computer simulation of mechanical structure–property relationship of aerogels. J Non-Cryst Solids 285: 216–221
Ma HS, Roberts AP, Prévost JH, Jullien R, Scherer GW (2000) Mechanical structure-property relationship of aerogels. J Non-Cryst Solids 277: 127–141
Leventis N, Sotiriou-Leventis C, Zhang G, Rawashdeh A-M M, (2002) Nanoengineering strong silica aerogels. Nano Lett 2: 957–960
Zhang G, Dass A, Rawashdeh AMM, Thomas J, Counsil JA, Sotiriou-Leventis C, Fabrizio EF, Ilhan F, Vassilaras P, Scheiman DA (2004) Isocyanate-crosslinked silica aerogel monoliths: preparation and characterization. J Non-Cryst Solids 350:152–164
Leventis, N (2007) Three dimensional core-shell superstructures: mechanically strong aerogels. Acc Chem Res 40:874–884
Bertino MF, Hund JF, Zhang G, Sotiriou-Leventis C, Tokuhiro AT, Leventis N (2004) Room temperature synthesis of noble metal clusters in the mesopores of mechanically strong silica-polymer aerogel composites. J Sol-Gel Sci Techn 30: 43–48
Meador MAB, Fabrizio EF, Ilhan F, Dass A, Zhang G, Vassilaras P, Johnston JC, Leventis N (2005) Crosslinking amine-modified silica aerogels with epoxies: mechanically strong lightweight porous materials. Chem Mater 17: 1085–1098
Katti A, Shimpi N, Roy S, Lu H, Fabrizio EF, Dass A, Capadona LA, Leventis N (2006) Chemical, physical and mechanical characterization of isocyanate-crosslinked amine-modified silica aerogels. Chem Mater 18: 285–296
Meador MAB, Capadona LA, MacCorkle L, Papadopoulos DS, Leventis N (2007) Structure-property relationships in porous 3D nanostructures as a function of preparation conditions: isocyanate cross-linked silica aerogels. Chem Mater 19: 2247–2260
Ilhan UF, Fabrizio EF, McCorkle L, Scheiman D, Dass A, Palzer A, Meador MAB, Leventis N (2006) Hydrophobic monolithic aerogels by nanocasting polystyrene on amine-modified silica. J Mater Chem 16: 3046–3054
Meador MAB, Vivod SL, McCorkle L, Quade D, Sullivan RM, Ghosn LJ, Clark N, Capadona LA (2008) Reinforcing polymer cross-linked aerogels with carbon nanofibers. J Mater Chem 18: 1843–1852
Leventis N, Mulik S, Wang X, Dass A, Sotiriou-Leventis C, Lu H (2007) Stresses at the interface of micro with nano. J Am Chem Soc 129: 10660–10661
Leventis N, Mulik, S, Wang X, Dass A, Patil VU, Sotiriou-Leventis C, Lu H, Churu G, Capecelatro A (2008) Polymer nano-encapsulation of templated mesoporous silica monoliths with improved mechanical properties. J Non-Cryst Solids 354; 632–644
Leventis N, Sotiriou-Leventis C, Mulik S, Dass A, Schnobrich J, Hobbs A, Fabrizio EF, Luo H, Churu G, Zhang Y, Lu H (2008) Polymer nanoencapsulated mesoporous vanadia with unusual ductility at Cryogenic temperatures. J Mater Chem 18: 2475–2482
Luo H, Churu G, Fabrizio EF, Schnobrich J, Hobbs A, Dass A, Mulik S, Zhang Y, Grady BP, Capecelatro A, Sotiriou-Leventis C, Lu H, Leventis N (2008) Synthesis and characterization of the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of isocyanate-crosslinked vanadia aerogels. J Sol-Gel Sci Techn 48: 113–134
Parmenter KE, Milstein F (1998) Mechanical properties of silica aerogels. J Non-Cryst Solids 223: 179–189
Luo H, Lu H, Leventis N (2006) The compressive behavior of isocyanate-crosslinked silica aerogel at high strain rates. Mech Time-Depend Mater 10: 83–111
She JH, Ohji T (2002) Porous mullite ceramics with high strength. J Mater Sci Lett 21: 1833–1834
Morris CA, Anderson ML, Stroud RM, Merzbacher CI, Rolison DR (1999) Silica sol as a nanoglue: flexible synthesis of composite aerogels. Science 284: 622–624
Amatani T, Nakanishi K, Hirao K, Kodaira T (2005) Monolithic periodic mesoporous silica with well-defined macropores. Chem Mater 17:2114–2119
Livage J (1991) Vanadium pentoxide gels. Chem Mater 3: 578–593
Sudoh K, Hirashima H (1992) Preparation and physical properties of V2O5 aerogel. J Non-Cryst Solids 147: 386–388
Sudant G, Baudrin E, Dunn B, Tarascon JM (2004) Synthesis and electrochemical properties of vanadium oxide aerogels prepared by a freeze-drying process. J Electrochem Soc 151: A666–A671
Frew DJ, Forrestal MJ, Chen W (2002) Pulse-shaping techniques for testing brittle materials with a split Hopkinson pressure bar. Exp Mech 42: 93–106
Gray GT (2000) Classic split-Hopkinson pressure bar technique. Mech Test Eval, ASM Handbook 8: 462–476
Chen W, Zhang B, Forrestal MJ (1999) A split Hopkinson bar technique for low-impedance material. Exp Mech 39: 81–85
Chen W, Lu F, Cheng M (2002) Tension and compression testing of two polymers under quasi-static and dynamic loading. Polym Test 21: 113–121
Chen W, Zhou B (1998) Constitutive behavior of Epon 828/T-403 at various strain rates. Mech Time-Depend Mater 2: 103–111
Gibson LJ (2000) Mechanical behavior of metallic foams. Ann Rev Mater Sci 30: 181–227
Gibson LJ, Ashby MF (1997) Cellular Solids: Structure and Properties-2nd ed, Cambridge University Press
Peters WH, Ranson WF (1982) Digital imaging techniques in experimental stress analysis. Opt Eng 21: 427–432
Sutton MA, Wolters WJ, Ranson WF, McNeil SR (1983) Determination of displacements using an improved digital image correlation method. Image Vis Comput 1: 133–139
Chu TC, Ranson WF, Sutton MA, Peters WH (1985) Applications of digital-image-correlation techniques to experimental mechanics. Exp Mech 25: 232–244
Bruck HA, McNeill SR, Sutton MA, Peters WH (1989) Digital image correlation using Newton-Raphson method of partial differential correction. Exp Mech 29: 261–267
Lu H, Cary PD (2000) Deformation measurements by digital image correlation: Implementation of a second-order displacement gradient. Exp Mech 40: 393–400
Wigley DA (1971) Mechanical Properties of Materials at Low Temperatures, Plenum Press, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lu, H., Luo, H., Leventis, N. (2011). Mechanical Characterization of 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_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7589-8_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-7477-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-7589-8
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)