Development of polyimide aerogel stock shapes through polyimide aerogel particles

Polyimide aerogels have excellent thermal and mechanical properties, resulting in various applications, especially in insulation areas. However, the conventional methods for directly producing aerogel blocks can be time-consuming and expensive due to the long-term solvent exchange and drying. This study developed two alternative techniques, adding dimethyl sulfoxide solvent and epoxy into the polyimide aerogel particles and consolidating them to obtain PI aerogel blocks or stock shapes. This approach reduced the cycle time of the process by nearly 60% compared to the directly obtained stock shapes. Samples with epoxy look promising in appearance and mechanical properties compared to the stock shapes made directly. The compression test shows that adding epoxy improves the mechanical property and compressive strength at 10% strain by 18%. In the same context, the samples made using dimethyl sulfoxide as a solvent exhibit higher thermal stability and porosity when compared to directly made stock shapes. These techniques provide a range of good thermal and mechanical properties for polyimide aerogel stock shapes prepared from the particles.