Solvent management methods for gel production
AssigneeAspen Aerogels, Inc.
InventorsGeorge L. Gould, Kevin A. Schmidt, Christopher L. Marlette, Shahrooz Zaghi
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention describe a method for continuous manufacture of a gel material comprising the steps of: forming a gel sheet by dispensing a gel precursor mixture onto a moving element at a rate effective to allow gelation to occur to the gel precursor mixture on the moving element; and cooling the formed gel thereby reducing the rate of solvent evaporation therefrom.
Claims18
A method for continuous manufacture of a gel material comprising:
- (a) forming a fiber-reinforced gel sheet with thickness of at least about 0.5 mm by dispensing a fibrous structure and a gel precursor solution comprising a solvent onto a moving element at a first temperature and at a predetermined rate effective to allow gelation to occur at the first temperature to the gel precursor solution on the moving element;
- and
- (b) cooling the formed gel sheet on the moving element at a second temperature with a cooling system not in physical contact with the sheet, wherein the second temperature is cooler than the first temperature.
A method for continuous manufacture of a gel material comprising:
- (a) forming a fiber-reinforced gel sheet with thickness of at least about 0.5 mm by dispensing a fibrous structure and a gel precursor solution comprising a solvent onto a moving element at a first temperature and at a predetermined rate effective to allow gelation to occur at the first temperature to the gel precursor solution on the moving element;
- (b) cooling at least one surface of the formed gel sheet on the moving element at a second temperature with a cooling system not in physical contact with the sheet, wherein the second temperature is cooler than the first temperature;
- and
- (c) cooling at least one other surface of the formed gel sheet on the moving element at a third temperature with a cooling system in physical contact with the sheet, wherein the third temperature is cooler than the first temperature.
A method for continuous manufacture of a gel material comprising:
- (a) forming a gel sheet with thickness of at least about 0.5 mm by dispensing a solution comprising a metal oxide gel precursor and a solvent onto a moving element at a first temperature and at a predetermined rate effective to allow gelation to occur at the first temperature to the gel precursor solution on the moving element;
- and
- (b) cooling at least two surfaces of the formed gel sheet on the moving element at a second temperature with a cooling system, wherein the second temperature is cooler than the first temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.