01 Feedstock
Ore, monomer, fibre, mineral or scrap that can legally become Aerogel.
Aerogel · A nanoscale silica sponge — among the lowest solid λ values, fragile unless blanketed, and A1 when purely inorganic.
Making Aerogel is a chain: feedstock, conversion (Kistler 1931; NASA / Aspen 1990s–), forming, heat, finish, install.
Skip a step and the properties chapter is describing a different object.
Ore, monomer, fibre, mineral or scrap that can legally become Aerogel.
Kistler 1931; NASA / Aspen 1990s–
Cast, spin, weave, sinter, foam, laminate or coat — the step that sets anisotropy.
Temper, vulcanise, calcine or dry: skip it and the datasheet is fiction.
Coatings, sizings, facers, galvanizing, anodising, painting.
Fasteners, adhesives, DFT, compression, dryness — site quality is a material property.
Virgin route around United States.
Recycling exists but quality or energy often disappoints.
High-spec grades leave the commodity mill.
Coatings, sprays, casts — the factory is sometimes a jobsite.
Feedstock to installed product.
Energy in, class out.
Melting/softening silica sinters; organic aerogels burn; conductivity silica blankets ~0.015–0.025 W/m·K class.
Moisture, UV, chlorides, alkalis or oxygen — pick the one that actually kills Aerogel.
Fire class silica A1; polymer aerogels not is a starting letter, not a wall rating.
Process energy and scrap quality belong in the carbon passport, not in a footnote.
Polymer-derived filaments with graphite-like sheets — aero, bikes and a fire story that is about the resin, not the fibre.
Overall 49 ⬡A one-atom carbon sheet — Nobel-era physics, composites hype, and a few honest electronics and barrier uses.
Overall 50 🩺Near-equiatomic Ni–Ti that remembers shape and super-elasticates — stents, orthodontics and actuators.
Overall 48 ☀️ABX3 halide crystals that jumped laboratory solar efficiency — still fighting humidity, lead and lifetime.
Overall 26