The insulation pad with a thickness of only 1.5 millimeters worked continuously for 20 minutes between 500 ℃ and 200 ℃ without emitting any odor. Recently, the reporter watched a thermal insulation experiment at Jiangsu Hanxin Tiancheng New Materials Co., Ltd. located in Binhai County.

The main material of this heat insulation pad is aerogel, which is known as the "king of heat insulation". It is known as "a multi-functional new material that can change the world" and is a strategic frontier that is focused on internationally. This product has low thermal conductivity, high temperature resistance, and a wide range of applications. It is mainly used in aerospace and military industry, aircraft and ship high-speed rail, new energy vehicles, construction industry, and industrial pipeline insulation.
At present, there are about 10 domestic aerogel manufacturers. Generally speaking, each manufacturer will add a unique secret recipe to form a common gel that looks like jelly and feels soft. After supercritical reaction, solid gel is generated. Horizontal autoclave high temperature and high pressure ethanol supercritical drying technology ensures stable quality and performance of aerogel products.
There are three main evaluation criteria for aerogels in the market: pH stability, continuous thermal insulation and continuous hydrophobicity. At present, the pH value of the aerogel products produced by Hanxin Tiancheng is stable at 7, and they are not corrosive to metals or raw materials. In terms of continuous insulation, the performance of the product decreases by no more than 10% after long-term use. For example, in a high temperature environment of 650 ℃, it can be used continuously for 20 years without interruption. Continuous hydrophobicity reaches 99.5%.
Ensuring that all products meet these three standards is not an easy task. At the factory, the world's first fully automatic large horizontal kettle production line has been officially put into operation, with a single production line length of 18 meters and a total of 8 production lines. This device is a key link in achieving stable product quality control and achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Compared to traditional equipment, its production efficiency has increased by 10 times, production costs have decreased by 20%, and the cost of producing similar products abroad is 40% lower.

Moreover, in the air gel insulation experiment, even if the air gel insulation pad was directly burned by a 1000 ℃ high temperature spray gun, there was no pungent smell or smoke at the scene. In order to make the aerogel non-toxic and odorless in high temperature heating, experiments have been conducted for 6 years continuously, and now it can meet the needs of indoor use.
With the help of this series of self-developed equipment and technology, the range of basic materials for aerogel products has been expanded from common glass fiber felt to basalt, high silica, alumina, etc. The products can be used to wrap LNG pipelines with a minimum temperature of minus 200 ℃, as well as the engine insulation layer of supersonic aircraft with an instantaneous temperature rise of more than 1000 ℃, and can also be used in vacuum environment.
In 2022, only 126 pieces of aerogels will be used to create a thermal insulation safety pad to prevent the battery from losing control of heat and catching fire, leaving precious time for users to escape.