Anybody hear of this stuff? I saw a bit about it on TV a few(?) years ago and never did get it out of my mind, and then recently on the Science channel, I saw an overview commercial for the channel itself and a split second image of that stuff (aerogel) was part of the spot . I hit the internet looking for it, didn't remember the name so it took a while to find. Anyway, this is the lightest material ever made apparently with the highest R value ever. A chunk of this stuff sitting on a table looks like a hunk of frozen smoke, in fact, that is the nickname. It is definately trippy to look at. This stuffis very expensive, of course, but I wonder how long 'til someone introduces it to the HOT ROD world. Maybe in intake manifolds it could be filled into jackets surrounding the runners. Maybe double tube (inner/outer) exhaust systems with aerogel sandwiched in between. Perhaps in engine blocks in lieu of coolant? Check out the link http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/aerogel.html Hey! If any of you enterprising HAMBers runs with this idea, remember who HIPPED ya to it!
About 20 years ago I worked with the group that developed this stuff at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I had a little piece (about one square inch) at home I kept just because it was so bizzare. Like you said it looks like solid smoke and in your hand you can hardly tell it's there. It feels sort of like a hardened foam material. I kept it in a Tupperware container and marked the container just so I could find the stuff. Sounds like you have the right idea Jeem, you should run with it.
Wow, you answered my question. I wondered what kind of consistency it had. I would think, undoubtedly, that it could easily be crushed?! Can it be shaped easily? On the site somewhere they offer a "down style" jacket for a mere 12,000 bones so it is form-able no?
Popular Science had a cover story on some similar super insulator. They heated a 1" block until it was glowing white hot, then allowd it to cool until you could touch it safely. The insolating,and heat conducting properties were such that the inside of the cube was still glowing white hot while it was sitting in the palm of a person's hand. And this was 30 years ago.
Holy*****! I wonder what the manufacturing process is like for this schtuff. NASA is using it's damping qualities to capture meteor junk in it's most natural state. Check the site for more info. 30 years ago?!
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