Fabrication of composite aerogels from waste tires and fly ash for thermal and acoustic insulation applications

Abstract

Abstract Recently, extensive research has been conducted on composite aerogel materials fabricated using industrial waste sources. These aerogels can not only help solve the most challenging environmental issues brought on by waste streams, but are also materials with excellent properties for thermal and acoustic insulation applications. This study, therefore, focuses on synthesizing composite aerogel using waste tire rubber powder and fly ash attained from power plants in a simple and environmentally friendly manner. The results show that the composite aerogel has a very low density (0.055- 0.079 g/cm3), a porosity of up to 96.57%, low thermal conductivity (0.022-0.039 W/m.K), an adequate noise reduction number (NRC) (0.41 at 250-4000 Hz) and high compressive Young’s modulus (120.5 kPa). These properties show the high potential of the material for thermal and sound insulation of buildings. Especially in the context of utilizing a reasonably priced source of waste material.