C. Robinson, D. Sondee, A. Sahu, W. Heldt-Rowe
American Nano,
United States
Keywords: thermal protection, insulation, composites
Summary:
American Nano has developed a novel high-temperature resistant material comprised of high purity amorphous silica fibers with potential to improve the safety and quality of life. The lightweight fibrous non-woven material is manufactured via a patented, scalable process. The purest fibrous form of the material exhibits a thermal conductivity of 0.017 W/m-K @ 268 ⁰C and high thermal and chemical stability withstanding flame temperatures of at least 2000⁰C. After heat treatment at low temperatures, the fiber batches consistently showed no outgassing issues, with minimal to no overall ‘Total Mass Loss’ and ‘Water Vapor Regain’. Morphological and chemical analyses (using scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, powder x-ray diffraction and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy) revealed that the properties of sheets, which consisted of a network of smooth rods based on an amorphous silica matrix, were consistent. In addition, the fibers can be transformed into powdered forms with different aspect ratios or hard materials with a variety of shapes as needed to support both military and commercial applications including aerospace-grade encapsulation seals and thermal and cryogenic regulation/insulation. It has potential applications in smart textiles/fabrics or flame-resistant coatings markets, enabling multi-material fiber applications by layering or blending with other nanomaterials or forming composites. American Nano is committed to the rapid development and commercialization of disruptive materials improving the safety and quality of life including high purity amorphous silica fibers addressing needs across a broad range of applications. Our business model includes working directly with partners to validate and commercialize differentiated product offerings. We are targeting customers and technology partners in both commercial industry and government/military applications. Our focus has been to advance the technology readiness level (TRL) sufficiently to reduce both the technical and financial risk to support rapid adoption of the technology. Derivative fiber development is focused on enhancing material properties including use of functional additives to meet underserved needs of targeted applications across a broad range of temperatures and hazardous environment. Examples of targeted applications and related collaborations include: • High temperature thermal protection (e.g. aircraft engine nancelles/reversers/firewalls, spacecraft TPS, UHT potential – hypersonics) • Cryogenic thermal protection (cryogenic fuels, life support, in-space demos, H2&LNG transportation) • Electronics- Thermal and electrical insulation • EMI/RFI shielding (derivative material enhancing protection for sensitive electronics in harsh environments) • Fire protective and hot/cold thermal suppression textiles • Smart Textiles • Battery and fuel cell enabling material (derivative fiber providing active or catalyst material support)