ADVANCED FABRICATION AND MULTI-PROPERTIES OF POLYIMIDE AEROGELS AND THEIR COMPOSITES

Aerogels are extremely low-density materials with excellent thermal and acoustic insulating properties based on their high porosity and small pore diameter. This makes them attractive candidates for many aerospace applications, such as insulation for cryotanks and spacesuits, as well as more down-to-earth uses in construction, refrigeration, and pipe insulation. The main drawback that has prevented aerogels from having a broad commercial impact is their fragility. Conventional silica aerogels are fantastic insulators but crush easily and are difficult to work with. NASA’s Glenn Research Center has developed exceptionally strong polyimide aerogels that are up to 500 times stronger and have equivalent insulation ability to silica aerogels. As thin films, these polyimide aerogels are highly flexible, lightweight, and porous. Notably, the ability to fabricate the polyimide aerogels into thin films is a revolutionary advancement over silica aerogels. The innovation is technologically significant and unparalleled in the aerogel marketplace, * Corresponding Author E-mail: mpedhm@nus.edu.sg. Complimentary Contributor Copy Hai M. Duong, Peng Liu and Daniel Jewell 132 as no other aerogel possesses the compressive and tensile strength of the Glenn polyimide aerogel while it simultaneously can be flexibly folded to contour to whatever shape is needed. In this book chapter, we summarize the current fabrication methods of the polyimide aerogels and their composites. The formation mechanisms, morphologies and multi-properties of polyimide aerogels and their composites are carefully discussed. This review chapter would be meaningful for exploiting the structures, properties and potential applications of the polyimide aerogels and their composites.