Title: INORGANIC NANOPOROUS PARTICLES WITH WATER DISPERSIBLE POLYURETHANE BINDER

 Number/Link: US2013091682

Applicant/Assignee: Dow

Publication date: 18-04-2013  (priority 2012- PCT/CN)

“Gist”:  Flexible nanoporous insulation article made by binding aerogel particles with water-based polyurethane binder.

Why it is interesting: Nanoporous  materials are a big trend in insulation technology. Because monolithic aerogel parts are difficult to make and difficult to use, much research focuses on the use of nanoporous (aerogel, xerogel…) particles instead. This invention uses uncoated silica aerogel particles together with an aqueous PU binder.  The particles are sufficiently hydrophobic to prevent water ingress in the pores. The PU binder is based on aliphatic isocyanate and contains dimethylolpropionic acid to make it water-dispersible. The resulting material contains about 95% aerogel particles and has a density of about 100 kg/m3.