Aerogel Particle Selection Guide

If you are new to aerogel and are interested in experimenting with aerogel particles, we recommend trying Lumira^® LA1000 aerogel particles first.  Lumira aerogel consists of millimeter-diameter hydrophobic (water-repelling) translucent particles and is a great way to experience aerogel first hand without spending a lot of money.  Other aerogel particle products are meant as performance additives for paints and coatings and are significantly more difficult to handle if you are inexperienced with handling fine powder additives.  If you are interested in preparing an aerogel-enhanced coating, however, we would recommend Enova IC3100, Enova IC3105, IC3110, or IC3120 fine aerogel particles as recommended for the applications below.

For applications including steam pipes, boilers, injection molding systems, and other equipment where reducing heat dissipation is desired, an aerogel-based insulative coating may be a great option.  For insulative coatings development, we recommend Enova^® fine aerogel particles.  With a thermal conductivity of only 12 mW/m-K and hydrophobic (water-repelling) surface properties, Enova aerogel can be used as a post-additive for existing coating systems that can greatly improve insulating ability and resistance to moisture, as well as impart safe touch properties by significantly increasing the amount of time between initial contact with a hot surface and when burns would occur.  When compared to traditional insulating additives, Enova aerogel far outperforms the rest.  As part of an insulative coating formulation, Enova aerogel is proven to reduce temperatures by 60-100°C on
200°C substrates.

Enova aerogel comes in four grades:

• IC3100, which consists of ultrafine particles with diameters ranging from 2 to 40 µm
• IC3105, which consists of fine particles with diameters ranging from 100-500 µm (0.1-0.5 mm)
• IC3110, which consists of fine particles with diameters ranging from 100-700 µm (0.1-0.7 mm)
• IC3120, which consists of both fine and coarse particles with diameters ranging from 100-1200 µm (0.1-1.2 mm)

Advantages to each particle type:

• IC3100 will give the smoothest finish and blend the most efficiently with good thermal insulation performance
• IC3105 will provide better thermal insulation performance but will be less smooth
• IC3110 will provide better thermal insulation performance but will be less smooth
• IC3120 will provide the best thermal insulation performance, is the easiest to handle, but will give the roughest coating

If you are not accustomed to coatings development, Enova IC3120 aerogel particles would be a good product to start with.  If smoothness, reducing gloss, and rheology control are important, Enova IC3100 aerogel particles, Enova IC3105 aerogel particles and Enova IC3110 aerogel particles may be better suited, depending on the coatings formulation.

Enova^® aerogel particles can be used as a post-additive for matting in the paint manufacturing process imparting complementary performance to IR reflective and low-e coatings as well as extremely high single-pass film build.  Enova aerogel can be used as a post-additive for existing coating systems that can greatly improve insulating ability as well as resistance to moisture.  Enova aerogel comes in comes in three grades:

• IC3100, which consists of ultrafine particles with diameters ranging from 2 to 40 µm
• IC3105, which consists of fine particles with diameters ranging from 100-500 µm (0.1-0.5 mm)
• IC3110, which consists of fine particles with diameters ranging from 100-700 µm (0.1-0.7 mm)
• IC3120, which consists of both fine and coarse particles with diameters ranging from 100-1200 µm (0.1-1.2 mm)

Advantages to each particle type:

• IC3100 will give the smoothest finish and blend the most efficiently with good thermal insulation performance
• IC3105 will provide better thermal insulation performance but will be less smooth
• IC3110 will provide better thermal insulation performance but will be less smooth
• IC3120 will provide the best thermal insulation performance, is the easiest to handle, but will give the roughest coating

For reducing gloss, Enova IC3100 aerogel particles are an excellent choice.  Enova IC3100 blends the easiest of the three Enova grades and gives a smooth finish.  An alternative that will provide improved thermal insulative performance would be Enova IC3110 aerogel particles however will give a rougher finish.

When used as a post-additive in the paint manufacturing process, Enova^® aerogel particles impart improved chemical and water resistance, corrosion resistance, and weatherability with high film clarity and control over mechanical properties, sedimentation, thickening, and other rheological parameters of importance.  Enova aerogel comes in three grades:

• IC3100, which consists of ultrafine particles with diameters ranging from 2 to 40 µm
• IC3105 will provide better thermal insulation performance but will be less smooth
• IC3110, which consists of fine particles with diameters ranging from 100-700 µm (0.1-0.7 mm)
• IC3120, which consists of both fine and coarse particles with diameters ranging from 100-1200 µm (0.1-1.2 mm)

Advantages to each particle type:

• IC3100 will give the smoothest finish and blend the most efficiently with good thermal insulation performance
• IC3105 will provide better thermal insulation performance but will be less smooth
• IC3110 will provide better thermal insulation performance but will be less smooth
• IC3120 will provide the best thermal insulation performance, is the easiest to handle, but will give the roughest coating

If you are not accustomed to coatings development, Enova IC3120 aerogel particles would be a good product to start with.  If smoothness, reducing gloss, and rheology control are important, Enova IC3100 aerogel particles, Enova IC3105 aerogel particles and Enova IC3110 aerogel particles may be better suited, depending on the coatings formulation.

 

For daylighting and other architectural applications involving light transmissive panels, choose Lumira^® LA1000 aerogel particles.  LA1000 consists of millimeter-diameter particles engineered to minimize self-abrasion and settling, useful in filling aerogel particles between transparent panels for fenestration applications.