Thermablok^® Aerogel Insulation

Thermablok

Utilizing aerogel insulation technology developed by NASA - the highest insulating material in existence - Thermablok^® is a highly efficient, aerogel-based insulating material that breaks conductive "thermal bridging" and can increase the overall wall R-value by more than 40 percent.

Aerogel, also referred to as "frozen smoke," has been difficult to adapt to most uses because of its fragility. The patented Thermablok material overcomes this by using a unique fiber to suspend a proprietary formula of aerogel so that it can be bent or compressed while still retaining its amazing insulation properties.

Now available to the building industry, just one, 3/8-inch x 1½-inch (6.25mm x 38mm) strip of Thermablok added to each stud before hanging drywall is all that is needed to tackle thermal bridging and achieve maximum R-factor value.

Thanks to its hydrophobic properties, Thermablok will not age, mold, or mildew. Thermablok aerogel insulating material is environmentally safe and recyclable.

One Thermablok Strip Increases R-Value up to 40%
(When applied to all Steel Stud Faces)

Thermablok aerogel insulation is made up of a composite material consisting of aerogel embedded within a fiberglass matrix.

Available in self-adhesive strips that attach easily to the stud, Thermablok maintains its R-value over time, under a wide range of conditions. For this reason, Thermablok has made aerogel insulation available for home and commercial use for the first time in history.

What is aerogel?

Aerogel is an advanced material which holds 15 entries in the "Guinness Book of Records" for its unique properties, including lowest density solid and best insulator. Aerogel is a silica-based substance consisting of a loose dendritic network of the atom silicon. Aerogel is manufactured by removing the liquid from a silica alcogel and replacing it with nothing but air, which makes up 99.8 percent of the final product. Some aerogels have a density as low as .001 grams per cubic centimeter (.0005 ounces per cubic inch).

This video, from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, demonstrates aerogel and its properties.

Thermablok Products

ThermaBlok^® is a 3/8-inch (10mm) x 1½ -inch (38mm) wide strip available in four foot lengths. It is installed directly to the stud edge within the wall framing, before the installation of drywall. Thermablok is easily cut to size, and has a peel-and-stick backing for quick and simple installation.

Thermablok was developed by the international acoustical research company Acoustiblok, Inc., to meet a real need to apply aerogel technology in residential and commercial insulating material. Thermablok works by addressing the characteristics of thermal transmission, which is at its minimum when conducting through air or a vacuum, and increases through solid objects. Therefore, in a regular wood or metal stud wall, the areas that continue to conduct thermally are the studs, which mechanically connect one side of a wall to the other. Thermablok strips block thermal bridging at its base – the stud.

On an infrared thermal test of a standard metal stud/gypsum board wall, the studs show up very clearly as the points of thermal conductivity. Thermal bridging is the prime cause of energy loss in a building.

As the Thermablok aerogel material is 95 percent air, and is situated between the stud and the drywall, it breaks the mechanical connection (thermal bridging) exceptionally well.

These findings are substantiated by the U.S Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and J. M. Laboratory, which compared two identical (metal stud/gypsum board) walls: one wall with one strip of Thermablok on each 2 x 4 stud edge (one side only), and the second wall without Thermablok. A ¼-inch thickness of Thermablok increased the insulation factor by 30 percent, and a 3/8-inch thickness increased the insulation factor by 42 percent.

This video, from the Discovery Channel, reveals this new flexible aerogel insulation material.

NASA named Thermablok aerogel insulating material to its Top 50 list of new products in its 2009 edition of "Spinoff," NASA's annual premier publication featuring companies that have successfully adapted NASA technologies to everyday products and made them available to everyday consumers.