When it comes to aerogels, many people will come up with the impression that they are "as light as fog, fragile and fragile", and even acquiesce that this magical material, called "solid smoke", will be crushed to pieces if slightly impacted. Today, we will thoroughly clarify this cognitive misunderstanding and talk about whether aerogel is easy to break when impacted, and the core principle behind it.
First of all, a core conclusion should be made clear: aerogels are not "smash", and their impact resistance depends on the material type, preparation process and structural design. The technologically optimized aerogels can even withstand strong impact loads, breaking the traditional recognition of the "fragile" label.
Many people think that aerogels are fragile, which stems from their one-sided understanding of traditional aerogels. The early pure inorganic aerogels (such as silica aerogels), because of the loose nano porous network structure inside, have a porosity of up to 80% -99.8% and a fine solid skeleton. They do have weak mechanical properties and greater brittleness, and are prone to fracture when subjected to severe impact. But with the rapid development of new material technology, this shortcoming has long been overcome.
This can also be visually verified from the application scenarios: in the aerospace field, aerogel is used as the thermal insulation layer of the spacecraft return capsule, which can withstand the impact of airflow in high-speed flight and the vibration during landing; In the field of industrial protection, the aerogel fabric can withstand the impact of glass breaking and prevent the splash of debris; In daily scenarios, the aerogel insulation board can be kept intact after slight collision during transportation, without special protection.
Of course, the impact resistance of aerogel is not unlimited, and its impact resistance strength is closely related to the material thickness and composite composition. For example, thin aerogel sheets may be partially damaged when they are impacted by sharp objects, but this does not mean that they are "fragile", but the mechanical limit of any material.
To sum up, whether aerogel is easy to break cannot be generalized. With the iterative technological innovation of new material technology, the brittleness bottleneck of traditional aerogels has been broken, so that this material, which has the advantages of ultralight, heat insulation and high temperature resistance, can be applied in more scenes with requirements for impact performance. In the future, with the deepening of research and development, the impact resistance of aerogel will continue to improve, unlocking more new applications.