How to Choose Aerogel Thermal Insulation?

25 Aug.,2025

 

Aerogel Insulation: Benefits and Applications | Firwin Corporation

When choosing the best insulation for your application, it is important to ensure that it closely fits the dimensions of the components it is meant to insulate to maximize coverage and insulate against heat loss.

It is equally critical to have a thorough understanding of the insulating material. The correct insulating material helps to ensure optimal equipment operation and protects personnel and sensitive equipment from dangerously hot surfaces and excessively hot air temperatures.

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At Firwin Corporation, we specialize in finding the best insulation materials and designs for your specialized equipment and unique applications. Our comprehensive selection of insulation materials ensures that we will find the perfect insulation solution for your needs. One of Firwin’s most versatile insulating materials is Aerogel, a porous, solid material with a high percentage of air and a variety of unique properties.

What is Aerogel?

Aerogel is a class of low-density solid gels in which the liquid has been replaced with air or gas. The structural framework of Aerogel is typically composed of silica, so silica aerogel is often referred to as simply “Aerogel.” However, other structural materials have been used to create aerogels, including:

  • Carbon
  • Iron oxide
  • Organic polymers
  • Copper
  • Gold

Regardless of the material, the preponderance of air in an Aerogel’s structure gives it a nearly transparent appearance. The high gas content of Aerogels also gives them a variety of unique properties, including extremely low density, very low thermal conductivity, and very high porosity.

In insulation applications, Aerogel easily outperforms traditional fillers such as wool and fiberglass. In fact, Aerogel offers the same quality insulation with 1/3 the thickness of other insulating materials. However, Aerogel is expensive to manufacture and is rigid and brittle in its basic form, so it requires some supporting material. In addition, Aerogel withstands temperatures up to °F (593 °C), but is not suitable for extremely high-temperature applications that operate above that level.

Aerogel Insulation Benefits

Silica Aerogel is particularly useful for insulating applications and is one of the most effective insulators available. Although it is more expensive than other insulating materials, Aerogel makes up for its cost by the benefits it offers. Some of these include: 

  • Achieving greater temperature reduction with less insulation volume.
  • Thinner blankets mean easier installation and removal for maintenance and repairs, thereby reducing time and expenses. 
  • When used as a thermal insulation material, Aerogel helps to enhance equipment energy efficiency, thereby reducing energy costs and emissions.
  • Aerogel is especially valued for its extremely low thermal conductivity, which can be as low as 0.015 W m-1 K-1.
  • Aerogel is extremely water repellent. Its hydrophobic nature allows Aerogel to protect insulating and operating components from moisture damage and corrosion. 
  • Aerogel retains its shape in high-temperature settings and does not crack, clump, or sag like other insulating materials. It withstands vibration, impacts, and frequent traffic well, and can be reused after a thorough inspection.
  • Exceptional durability gives Aerogel a longer service life, which makes it an increasingly cost-effective option over time.

Aerogel Insulation Applications

Aerogel has been used as an insulating material for decades. Most notably, it has been used in NASA spacesuits for its exceptionally lightweight and durable nature. As manufacturing technology advances, Aerogel has become increasingly desirable in a broad range of insulating applications, including:

  • High-temp. With its ability to insulate higher temperatures with a thinner layer, Aerogel is particularly useful for high-temperature applications.
  • Limited space. Aerogel is ideal for compact environments where space is at a premium.
  • Lightweight. The lightweight nature of Aerogel makes it perfect for use with extremely delicate and fragile components.
  • Marine/high humidity. Aerogel’s hydrophobic characteristics make it useful in applications where moisture or water exposure can cause corrosion to underlying components.

Although Aerogel is typically more expensive than other insulating materials, its enhanced thermal insulating properties with thinner layers make it uniquely suited for confined spaces. In addition, its extremely lightweight characteristics make it ideal for use on light and breakable components that could be damaged by the weight of more traditional insulating materials. 

Aerogel Insulation for Better Thermal Protection - Gore

Aerogels are a class of materials with a unique morphology. Aerogels are highly porous, typically comprised of 95-99% air by volume. These low-density, highly-porous solid materials are light and durable. These characteristics make aerogel insulation an effective solution for many different applications.

Silica aerogel, in particular, has unique insulative properties. Aerogel thermal conductivity is lower than that of air, so it’s capable of providing a greater thermal resistance benefit than air. This is due to having pore sizes in the mesoporous range of 2–50 nm. These restricted pore diameters are smaller than the mean free path of air, forcing molecules to take a tortuous path through the material, inhibiting transfer of heat. This is known as the Knudsen effect.

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Aerogel insulation has been used in the aerospace industry for many years, often in the form of thick blankets of aerogel suspended in a thick fabric structure. Recently, companies started to look at using silica aerogel in electronics.

Most aerogel insulations take the form of a silica aerogel coated into or onto a substrate, such as a non-woven. This typically leads to an uneven distribution of aerogel throughout the structure, which can cause:

  • Variation in the aerogel insulation thermal conductivity
  • Shedding of aerogel particles, as the aerogel is not bound to the structure

However, Gore recently developed and launched GORE Thermal Insulation, an aerogel-based product that solves those issues of consistency, and shedding.

  • Our silica aerogel insulation’s thermal conductivity is about 20% lower than that of air, due to our highly consistent distribution of aerogel within a PTFE matrix.
  • GORE Thermal Insulation is also superior to other insulations because the aerogel is bound by the PTFE matrix, which eliminates particulation.
  • Our processing enables us to target specific insulation thicknesses, and maintain low thermal conductivity across our portfolio of offerings. These are distinct advantages for aerogel in electronics, where gap sizes vary from device to device.

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Selecting the appropriate design for the insulation (thickness and area) is critical to achieving optimal performance results. When designing an aerogel thermal solution, it is important to optimize the area of the insulation relative to the area of the surface hot spot.

GORE Thermal Insulation is provided in finished good form, meaning the insulation is die-cut to the appropriate size and shape. Installing an aerogel insulation into an electronic device requires the use of adhesives and cover films. Gore provides guidance and support to customers to ensure successful aerogel insulation installations.

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GORE Thermal Insulation has a thermal conductivity of about 0.020 W/m•K, depending upon its thickness. The specific heat capacity of our aerogel insulation finished good is 1.8J/g °C. In use, the max temp of aerogel insulation is dependent upon the adhesives used. For GORE Thermal Insulation finished goods, the max use temp is typically 100 °C. By selecting adhesives suitable for high temperatures, the aerogel insulation can be used up to ~320 °C.

With GORE Thermal Insulation, you can now improve the effectiveness of your thermal spreading solutions. With a through-plane thermal conductivity (kz) significantly lower than air, enabled by premium aerogel technology, GORE Thermal Insulation will enhance the heat-spreading ratio and outperform system-level air gaps. It can be used independently or in conjunction with heat spreaders to create a higher-performing thermal design.

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Get all the technical details for GORE® Thermal Insulation.

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