Flexibilisation of Resorcinol-Formaldehyde Aerogels

Abstract

Ambient pressure dried resorcinol - formaldehyde (RF) organic aerogels are usually hard and brittle with Young’s-moduli in the range of 1-2 MPa, strengths of about 100 kPa and densities in the range of 0.2 to 0.4 g cm-3. Modification of the classical sol-gel synthesis route transforms these brittle materials into rubber- or cork-like flexible aerogels. We observed that in a small window of process parameters, the aerogel density decreases by an order of magnitude as well as the Young’s moduli and the compression strengths. These new type of RF aerogels are elastically deformable by more than 40 % in an almost reversible manner. In this paper we describe the effects of various sol-gel parameters on the flexibility, such as resorcinol to water and catalyst molar ratio and the pH of the initial solution. The aerogels are characterized with respect to envelope density, stress-strain behavior and microstructure as observed by SEM fractographs. The chemical structure and structural differences arising between brittle and flexible RF aerogels were studied by recording 13C-NMR spectra.