Aerogel Augmented Thermal Protection for Divers'' Hands

During the Phase I program, Aspen Aerogels developed a passive thermal protection solution for diver hands based on a new, low dusting formulation of aerogel insulation. Building on the successful material development accomplished during Phase I, the Phase II work will optimize and scale up the aerogel insulation to meet the thermal requirements for extremely cold water diving and enhanced diver comfort and dexterity. Two rubberized materials which demonstrated reduced particulate shedding during Phase I will be investigated for scale up to pilot production. The manufacturing process and formulation of the aerogels will be optimized to provide suitable water resistance, durability, dust performance, flexibility, while maintaining compatibility for larger scale manufacturing. Super-insulating gloves will be fabricated using an aerogel infiltration process which utilizes conventional engineered glove liners as the base reinforcement structure. Further optimization of the aerogel fabrication will target compatibility with existing manufacturing plant production processes. The work in the Phase II option programs will focus on translating the fabrication process of aerogel materials from bench scale to pilot plant scale. One aerogel formulation will be down-selected and aerogel gloves prototypes will be assembled from flat aerogel stock produced at large scale.