The "Real" Aerogel

gary f · 7th February 2006, 02:15 PM

Look at this!

http://www.unitednuclear.com/aerogel.htm

World lighest solid. 1000 times lighter than glass. 3 times the density of air!
Can't wait for those Aerogel cones to come out.

F
(from J-Walk Blog: http://j-walkblog.com/ )

inertial · 7th February 2006, 04:16 PM

Hi,
Yes, I remember that material. I think it can be amazing for a cone!!
Why not one serious designer/factory have employed it?
Cheers,
Inertial

bikehorn · 7th February 2006, 04:37 PM

doesn't Audax have some sort of Aerogel products?

quickshift · 7th February 2006, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by inertial

Why not one serious designer/factory have employed it?

The liniked page says it shatters and absorbs moisture - that'll be a challenge.. Maybe they could sandwich or seal it with really thin aluminium or something to make it moisture proof?

Maybe they could try vapour plating it with iridium - it would look really cool too then

dnsey · 7th February 2006, 05:31 PM

Going by the price of the 'samples' (which appear to be offcuts or rejects of some sort), the speakers wouldn't be cheap

inertial · 7th February 2006, 06:45 PM

perdone me, guys

Quickshift,

Foam surround also shatters.........performance have a price.

Dnsey ,

are maybe diamonds and berillium cheaps?

Cheers,
Inertial

SY · 7th February 2006, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bikehorn
doesn't Audax have some sort of Aerogel products?

Different. Audax's HDA cones appear to be a syntactic foam made from expandable microspheres (Expancel).

quickshift · 8th February 2006, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by inertial

Quickshift,

Foam surround also shatters.........performance have a price.

Yeah, true. The shattering problem they could maybe get round by tellling people to be really careful not to touch the cones and fitting some sort of rigid grill.

It's the moisture absorbsion that's a problem, I wouldn't really want the mass of my driver cones changing with the weather

inertial · 8th February 2006, 06:54 AM

Quickshift,
You are right, but I think ESL also "attract" moisture, and the world is full of ESL.

Joke apart, I think a serious experimentations could be foundamental to "solve" this problem. Really this aerogel seems to me very promising. We hope!
Cheers,
Inertial

chillysalsa · 8th February 2006, 01:20 PM

There are a few types of Aerogel listed on Matweb, but I think the lowest density one is Silica Aerogel:

http://www.matweb.com/search/Specifi...bassnum=C5MTO1

Unfortunately it's stiffness is very low: < 0.01 GPa

worse than most rubbers...

So maybe it could be a good material for the surrounds, but not the cones.

It WOULD be interesting to make a sandwhich composite of:

carbon-nano-tube sheet : Aerogel: carbon-nano-tube sheet

There is a company that has found a way to make paper-thin sheets of the CNT material pretty cheaply. That would probably be quite the intresting cone material.

If anyone can find the best analytical expression for the IDEAL stiffness to density ratio, I have access to another huge database of materials and alloys that will have the highest ratios.

7th February 2006, 02:15 PM	#1
gary f diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Quebec city	The "Real" Aerogel Look at this! http://www.unitednuclear.com/aerogel.htm World lighest solid. 1000 times lighter than glass. 3 times the density of air! Can't wait for those Aerogel cones to come out. F (from J-Walk Blog: http://j-walkblog.com/ )

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7th February 2006, 04:16 PM	#2
inertial diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Italy	Hi, Yes, I remember that material. I think it can be amazing for a cone!! Why not one serious designer/factory have employed it? Cheers, Inertial

7th February 2006, 04:37 PM	#3
bikehorn diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: toronto	doesn't Audax have some sort of Aerogel products?

7th February 2006, 05:31 PM	#5
dnsey diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Shropshire, England	Going by the price of the 'samples' (which appear to be offcuts or rejects of some sort), the speakers wouldn't be cheap

7th February 2006, 06:45 PM	#6
inertial diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Italy	perdone me, guys Quickshift, Foam surround also shatters.........performance have a price. Dnsey , are maybe diamonds and berillium cheaps? Cheers, Inertial

8th February 2006, 06:54 AM	#9
inertial diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Italy	Quickshift, You are right, but I think ESL also "attract" moisture, and the world is full of ESL. Joke apart, I think a serious experimentations could be foundamental to "solve" this problem. Really this aerogel seems to me very promising. We hope! Cheers, Inertial

8th February 2006, 01:20 PM	#10
chillysalsa diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: T.dot, Canada	There are a few types of Aerogel listed on Matweb, but I think the lowest density one is Silica Aerogel: http://www.matweb.com/search/Specifi...bassnum=C5MTO1 Unfortunately it's stiffness is very low: < 0.01 GPa worse than most rubbers... So maybe it could be a good material for the surrounds, but not the cones. It WOULD be interesting to make a sandwhich composite of: carbon-nano-tube sheet : Aerogel: carbon-nano-tube sheet There is a company that has found a way to make paper-thin sheets of the CNT material pretty cheaply. That would probably be quite the intresting cone material. If anyone can find the best analytical expression for the IDEAL stiffness to density ratio, I have access to another huge database of materials and alloys that will have the highest ratios.

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