Investigation of Thermal and Solar Properties of Aerogel Powder Coated Textiles

Aerogels, the lowest-density solids in the world, have very effective thermal insulation properties with their extremely high surface area and porous structure. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in using aerogels in the textile industry, especially to obtain functional and technical textiles. In this study, thermal and solar properties of polyester fabrics coated at different concentrations (1 %, 2 %, and 4 %) of aerogels with different particle sizes (similar to 8 mu m, 0 - 80 mu m, 0 - 0.5 mm) were investigated. It was observed that the aerogel particle size and concentration had a significant effect on the thermal and solar properties, and the lowest thermal conductivity coefficient and thermal resistance values (0.036 W/mK and 14.33 m(2) K/W, respectively) appeared at the largest particle size and maximum concentration. In contrast, the solar reflectance values of the coated samples decrease up to 62 % with increasing aerogel particle size. In a conclusion, the coating method with aerogel powders could be applied to improve the thermal insulation and solar protection properties of mainly curtains, tents, tarpaulins, and sportswear fabrics.