Investigation of Silica Aerogels Effect on Paint Characteristics

Abstract

New methods of energy saving are being researched by many scientists. An important research area in these studies are insulating paints. Silica aerogels are one of nanostructured insulating materials with low thermal conductivity, high surface area and low density. The main aim of this project is to study on alternative paint insulator by producing silica aerogel. In this research, Na 2 SiO 3 and H 2 SO 4 solution were used for synthesis of aerogels by using the sol-gel method. Acetonitrile and methanol:hexane solution was used for solvent exchange and surface modification. The effects of the process parameters such as the reaction  temperature  (35-55 o C),  the solution amount (150-180ml), the aging temperature (70-90 o C)  and the drying temperature (50-70 o C) were studied. Depends on the reaction parameters, three different kinds of aerogels were synthesized (aerogel1(A1), aerogel2(A2) and aerogel3(A3)). After that production progress, silica aerogels were added to two different kinds of paints (water and solvent-based). Aerogel amounts (%1-%3) and aerojel types were chosen as experiment factors. Properties of these samples, such as viscosity, hydrophobicity and adhesivity were measured. The viscosity measurements showed that the viscosity increase with the increasing amount of aerogel in both types of paint. When compared, the hydrophobic properties, best results were obtained in the using of A2 for water-based paint and using of A1 for the solvent-based paint. For the adhesivity, it can be said that it has an improving effect for all aerogel and paint types . In conclusion, the result of experiments demonstrated that silica aerogels have a positive effect on paint characteristics