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US 6,989,123 B2Granted
Methods to produce gel sheets
AssigneeAspen Aerogels, Inc.
InventorsKang P. Lee, George L. Gould, William Gronemeyer, Christopher John Stepanian
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides various methods for producing gel sheets in a continuous fashion. The embodiments of the present invention help reduce the time of producing gel sheets that is suitable for industrial manufacturing. Such gel sheets are used in manufacturing aerogel blankets used in a variety of applications including thermal and acoustic insulation.
Claims20
A process for casting gel sheets, comprising the steps of:
- providing a quantity of fibrous batting material;
- introducing a quantity of impermeable material to separate the quantity of fibrous batting material into a fiber-roll preform having a plurality of fibrous layers;
- infusing a quantity of catalyzed sol into the fiber-roll preform;
- gelling the catalyzed sol in the fiber-roll preform;
- removing the impermeable material to leave remaining a gel material;
- introducing a quantity of permeable material to separate the gel material into a plurality of layers.
3 more elements
A process for manufacturing aerogel blankets, comprising the steps of:
- providing a quantity of fibrous batting material;
- introducing a quantity of impermeable material to separate the quantity of fibrous batting material into a fiber-roll preform having a plurality of fibrous layers;
- infusing a quantity of catalyzed sol into the fiber-roll preform;
- gelling the catalyzed sol in the fiber-roll preform to form a gel sheet roll;
- and
- drying the gel sheet roll.
3 more elements
A process for preparing gel sheets, comprising the steps of:
- dispensing a catalyzed sol onto a moving element as a continuous sheet;
- rolling the dispensed sheet into a plurality of layers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.