AeroClay®:

A New & Exciting Low Density Material for Industry

Introduction
Lightweight substances are used in many industries, including naturally-occurring products,
foams, and aerogels. AeroClay®, a clay-based aerogel, is a material that is produced from clay,
water, and polymers. This mixture is then freeze-dried to create a low-density substance known
as AeroClay®. When the production process is changed, the properties of AeroClay® can be
altered for different applications or for cost optimization. Various polymers can modify
AeroClay’s® thermal and acoustic insulation properties, its absorptive properties, and its
mechanical strength. AeroClay®’s patented manufacturing technology serves as a platform for
constant innovation, and new applications are continuously being explored.

Low Density Materials

Lightweight materials have applications ranging from packaging to thermal and acoustic
insulation. These can be natural materials, such as cork and balsa wood; foams such as expanded
polystyrene; or the recently commercialized aerogel products. All of these materials offer
advantages and disadvantages and are preferred for different applications.

Natural Products
Some natural products exhibit low density. Balsa wood is well-known as a soft, light material
with high strength and is frequently used in model building. Because of these properties, balsa
can be laminated between plastic sheets or fiberglass for use in surfboards and boats. Cork is an
impermeable, fire-resistant, elastic material derived from cork oak trees and has applications in
bottle stoppers due to its impermeability and compressibility; fishing floats due to its low density
and impermeability; and floor tiles because of its insulative properties.

Traditional Polymer Foams

Foams are an important category of lightweight materials. Due to their low density and trapped
gas pockets, they are excellent thermal insulators, and because they are compressible, they are
frequently used as packaging materials. Certain polymers, such as polystyrene, polyethylene, and
polyurethane can be used to create foams. These polymers are usually made from petroleum-
based feed stocks. Blowing agents are used to expand the polymer into a foam and are typically
volatile organic compounds that evaporate after the foam is created. Expanded polystyrene is
frequently used as a packing material, thermal insulator, and in foam cups. Polyurethane foams
are found in high resiliency flexible foam seating such as that found in automobile seats; rigid
foam insulation panels; and microcellular foam seals. Finally, polyethylene foam is used in
packaging applications that require shock absorption, vibration dampening, and cushioning.

Metal Oxide Aerogels

Aerogels are extremely low-density solids that are created by removing a liquid from a wet gel.
The material that remains after drying is extremely porous. These pores can be as small as

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nanometers in diameter and have extremely high surface areas. These properties make aerogels
optimal materials in a wide variety of applications, including thermal insulation, chemical
catalysts and sound barriers.

Silica aerogels are typically made using three steps, as shown in Figure 1 below.1 In the first
step, chemicals are dissolved or reacted in a liquid to create a sol. Next, the sol is turned into a
gel by cross-linking the chemical molecules into an interconnected network. Finally, the liquid is
replaced with air, leaving an aerogel behind. This aerogel has a structure identical to that of the
gel, but the liquid has been removed.

Figure 1: Aerogel manufacturing process

Two different techniques can be used to turn the sol into aerogel. The liquid cannot simply be
evaporated from the gel because the expansion of the liquid into a gas would crush the pores of
the gel. Instead, the liquid must be removed by supercritical drying or freeze drying.

Figure 2 below is a phase diagram that shows the three methods that can be used to turn a liquid
into a gas. The blue arrow demonstrates normal evaporation: a liquid evaporates by an increase
in temperature or a decrease in pressure. The purple arrow illustrates supercritical drying. In
supercritical drying, the gel is placed into a special chamber where temperature of the liquid is
increased while the pressure is increased to turn the liquid into a supercritical fluid. Then, the
temperature is decreased to transform the supercritical fluid into a gas. The chamber is then
depressurized and the aerogel manufacturing process is complete. Supercritical drying is
frequently used in dry cleaning and the production of pharmaceuticals, and is used in producing
silica aerogels.

Freeze drying is another method that can be used to manufacture aerogels, as shown by the red
arrow in Figure 2. The gel is placed into a freeze dryer. First, the temperature is decreased to
freeze the liquid into a solid. Then, the pressure is decreased, and the solid sublimes directly into
a gas. The aerogel is returned to room temperature, and the manufacturing process is complete.
Freeze drying avoids the surface tension associated with transforming a liquid directly into a gas.

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 It is frequently used in the production of
vaccines and food preservation to
remove water and increase shelf -life.

Depending on the starting materials

Figure 2: Phase diagram showing freeze drying in red,
evaporation in blue and supercritical drying in purple
used, aerogels can have a wide variety of
properties. Generally, aerogels are
excellent thermal insulators because of
the air trapped in their pores, which has
low thermal conductivity. These pores
also dampen noise because sound waves
are forced through multiple air pockets
and the walls around them. However,
native silica aerogels are generally
fragile and can be easily crushed. Thus,
in structural applications, they are
typically combined with fibers or
polymers to form a composite material
that can withstand larger forces.

Aerogels can be made from many different organic and inorganic materials, which can enhance
certain properties of the aerogel. Different materials make the aerogel better suited for specific
applications ranging from lightweight materials with applications in space vehicles, comet dust
collection systems, catalyst support systems, and chemical sensors.2 The most commonly used
material in aerogels is silica, which gives the aerogel outstanding insulative properties and allows
it to absorb infrared radiation. Aerogels can be made from alumina, carbon, polyimides,
resorcinol-formaldehyde, melamine-formaldehyde, polyurethanes, and polyisocyanurates. Each
material has properties suited to specific applications. Other materials, such as clays, can also be
used to manufacture aerogels.

AeroClay®

Manufacturing AeroClay®
AeroClay® was discovered when clay was used to create an aerogel in a process very similar to
that described above. First, clay is dispersed in water. Then, it is poured into a mold, and freeze
dried. However, the resulting material is extremely fragile and has the consistency of a cotton
ball. Like many traditional aerogels, AeroClay® began as a very delicate material that was easily
broken.

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To improve the final product, the clay is mixed with polymers after it is dispersed in water.
These polymers make the final AeroClay® product robust and sturdy. The composite is freeze-
dried, leaving a lightweight, tough material with insulating properties similar to those of foamed
polymers. The overall manufacturing process is shown below in Figure 3.

Figure 3. AeroClay® manufacturing process

Properties of AeroClay®
AeroClay® has lower densities than some polymer foams because of its open structure. This
structure is formed when the water is frozen into ice and the ice excludes the impurities (clay,
polymer, etc.) from the crystal. When the water is removed, the layers which were formed
between the ice crystals are left behind creating the self supporting porous structure. The
structure of layers is visible in many AeroClay® composites. The air trapped between the clay
layers makes the AeroClay® lightweight
and a thermal insulator.

Various polymers can be added to

Figure 4: AeroClay® final product
AeroClay® to impart it with different
properties. In general, the polymers improve
AeroClay’s® structural properties, making
it tough enough to withstand more force
than a typical silica aerogel. Additionally,
the structure and composition of several
AeroClay® products allows them to spring
back to their original shapes after being

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compressed. Because of the simple manufacturing process used in making AeroClay®, it can be
easily formed into a wide variety of shapes.

Optimizing AeroClay®’s Properties

A wide assortment of polymers can be used to improve AeroClay’s® mechanical properties,
flexibility, absorptive properties, insulative properties, and more. One of these materials is
polyvinyl alcohol, which improves the mechanical rigidity of AeroClay®.

Casein is a naturally-occurring polymer found in waste

streams from dairy products that can also improve the
mechanical properties of AeroClay®. The amino acids found
in casein provide exceptional strength through hydrogen
bonding to the clay, increasing the durability of AeroClay®.
Poly(amide-imides) have exceptional mechanical, chemical,
and thermal-resistant properties, which, when combined with
the lightweight structure of the AeroClay®, create a low
density material that can withstand corrosive and high
temperature environments. Polymers like poly(vinyl alcohol)
and casein are reported to be biodegradable. Since AeroClay®
is made using only polymers, clay, and water, it is considered
environmentally benign.

This is only a short list of the polymers that can be added to

AeroClay®. Nearly any polymer could be combined with Figure 5: AeroClay can be
AeroClay® to produce a material that is tailored to suit extremely strong and robust.
specific applications.

Comparing AeroClay® and other low density materials

AeroClay® is similar to other lightweight materials in some aspects. In general, lightweight
materials tend to be good packaging materials as well as thermal and acoustic insulators.
AeroClay® and polymer foams are well-suited for packaging because they can be manufactured
into a variety of shapes and can spring back to their original shape when compressed. Like silica
aerogels, AeroClay® is a thermal insulator. However, AeroClay® is much more robust than
traditional native silica aerogels because it is reinforced with polymers. These polymers allow
AeroClay® to be tailored to improve its performance in a wide array of applications.
Aeroclay®’s properties can be customized to meet a variety of customer needs, from mechanical
properties to fire resistance, using environmentally benign materials. AeroClay® is also
produced using an environmentally-benign process whose only effluent is water vapor, unlike
the silica aerogels which produce many pounds of VOCs per pound of product, then require
chemical crosslinking with potentially toxic agents in order to insure acceptable mechanical

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properties. AeroClay® is a new type of lightweight material and has properties can be tailored to
meet specific customer needs.

Platform Technology
A platform technology enables the creation of products and processes that supports the
development of future products and services. That is to say, a platform technology is created to
be built from and is used as a base for creating other new technologies. Platform technologies
can range from the internet to methods for delivering drugs to new materials.

AeroClay® is an example of a platform technology. It evolved from the simple process of freeze
drying clay to create clay aerogels. That process can be modified to include different starting
materials, such as different types of clays, to create new types of structures. Those materials can
be altered by the addition of different polymers to change the material’s properties, whether they
are thermal, absorptive, or mechanical. AeroClay® can be molded into any shape from pellets to
sheets to molded forms. This is just the beginning of the development of AeroClay® technology,
and only a fraction of the potential applications and modifications are discussed in this article.
Future research and development will yield more variations that make AeroClay® right for many
additional applications.

Applications
As a platform technology, AeroClay® has a wide range of potential applications. Just a few are
discussed here:

Packaging
Initial testing suggests that AeroClay® is an excellent material for physical protection in
packaging. Because of the flexible manufacturing process used to create AeroClay®, it can be
formed into custom-tailored packaging that meets a product’s specific shape while preventing
shock, vibration, and compression. Additionally, AeroClay® has insulative properties that make
it well-suited for providing packaging for temperature-sensitive materials, such as medicines,
vaccines, or electronic equipment. Environmentally benign AeroClay® can replace materials
such as expanded polystyrene and polyurethane foams.

Insulation
Due to the micropores incorporated into AeroClay®, it makes a good thermal insulator. It traps
heat and could provide insulation in applications ranging from undersea piping to refrigerated
trucks and insulated containers in rail and shipping. Its structure suggests that it may also
dampen noise, which would make AeroClay® useful in sound barriers, ceiling tiles, or as a
replacement material for drywall. In these applications, AeroClay® also provides a flame-
resistant barrier.

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Absorption
When different polymers are incorporated into AeroClay®, it can act as a sponge and absorb
water-based liquids. This version of AeroClay® can be used as kitty litter or as a spill cleanup
substance in industrial or consumer products. AeroClay® can also be modified to absorb oil but
not water. The captured oil can also be recovered from AeroClay®.

These applications illustrate just a sample of AeroClay’s® potential uses. AeroClay, Inc. is
continuing to evaluate new functions by leveraging the versatility of AeroClay’s® platform
technology. Future applications may include catalyst platforms, drug delivery platforms, and
electrical insulation.

Conclusions
Low density materials, including natural products, polymer foams, and aerogels are important
throughout a wide range of industries. AeroClay®, a clay-based aerogel, is a unique material
produced by mixing clay, water, and a polymer, then freeze drying that material to create a
lightweight substance. Because the AeroClay® manufacturing process can be easily modified to
include different types of clays, polymers, and formed into a variety of shapes, it is a platform
technology. By changing those parameters, AeroClay’s® properties can be modified. Different
types of AeroClay® can be used in many applications, such as packaging, thermal insulation,
and acoustic insulation. The company is exploring additional applications that take advantage of
AeroClay’s® unique properties to better meet its customers’ needs.

About Aeroclay, Inc.

From insulation to absorption, sound barriers to packaging, Aeroclay, Inc. is dedicated to
creating the perfect innovative, high-performance material that meets your business’s needs.

Aeroclay, Inc. is a start-up company dedicated to commercializing an advanced material aerogel

technology developed by David Schiraldi, PhD and his research group at Case Western Reserve
University of Cleveland, Ohio. The full-time staff of the company includes industry veterans
with financial and manufacturing backgrounds and is supported by university resources as
needed. Our products provide significant value by improving energy efficiencies and providing
other unique characteristics to our customers. Our pilot-sized freeze drying equipment enables
us to manufacture samples and prototypes as well as serve customers that require smaller batches
of products. Prototypes and light production are accomplished through our proven processes.
Our products are monitored continuously throughout the entire manufacturing process to ensure
that the end products are not only of the highest quality, but also that they are uniform and meet
specifications. We have established relationships with toll manufacturers throughout different
industries. Toll manufacturing will help expedite production and marketing, allowing our
customers to get products to market more quickly. Additionally, we are in the process of

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developing a turnkey manufacturing solution for our customers. This will help customers easily
implement AeroClay® technology within their products.

AeroClay® is a registered trademark of Aeroclay Inc., Solon Ohio, for its clay and
polymer/clay aerogel products.

References:
1
Aspen Aerogels. What is Aerogel? http://www.aerogel.com/features/morphology.html (accessed Aug 5, 2010)

2
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology:
Aerogel: Mystifying Blue Smoke. http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/aerogel_factsheet.pdf (accessed Aug 5, 2010)