FLEXcon licenses NASA polyimide aerogel technology

 

Aerogels developed in the 1990s were silica-based and brittle, easily broken into dust by light finger pressure. The aerogel cube of smoke from the 1990s, “That’s your dad’s aerogel,” John Sankovic, Glenn’s director of technology incubation and innovation, told Aerospace Manufacturing and Design in an exclusive interview.

 

The new polyimide aerogels are stronger and lighter at similar densities – a small block of the material can support the weight of an automobile. 

 

McDonough also told Aerospace Manufacturing and Design, “The ability to cut fine shapes, to make it fit into different things, for us to be able to laminate different materials to it, takes it from being a base material to making it work in different applications.”

 

The NASA-developed aerogel features open cell pore size, which allows it to trap air, and therefore keep products warm or cold with a very thin layer. During a demonstration, a lightweight, flexible film of polyimide aerogel, 1.0mm thick, was able to reduce transmitted heat from a hot plate by 50°C.

 

Uses for the polyimide (PI) aerogel technology include insulation for cryotanks and spacesuits. For example, it will be one of the layers of the high-pressure extravehicular activity gloves designed by Final Frontier Design for a NASA Small Business Innovation Research contract. The goal is to develop advanced spacesuit gloves suitable for use in the Martian environment and other long-duration missions. FLEXcon will also provide additional materials for the glove. 

 

Another potential PI aerogel application is use as an antenna substrate, due to its low dielectric properties, and in lightweight power and data cables.

 

“We’re all involved in trying to grow industry in America, and the best way to do that is by bringing more technology into what we’re making,” McDonough said. “That’s my real interest in understanding what NASA has developed in so many different areas. If we can add to our manufacturing base, it will add to the success of all of us.”

 

In addition to its spencer, Massachusetts, headquarters, FLEXcon has manufacturing and distribution centers in San Antonio, Texas; Columbus, Nebraska; Elkton, Kentucky; and Glenrothes, Scotland.

 

NASA was able to scale-up its PI aerogel in collaboration with help from the University of Akron’s National Polymer Innovation Center.