A method can be used for manufacturing one or more bodies made of a porous material derived from precursors of the porous material in a sol-gel process. The method involves filling precursors of the porous material into a mold defining the shape of the body, where the precursors include at least two reactive components and a solvent, and forming a gel body. The step is then repeated so as to form several gel bodies. The gel bodies are then removed from the mold after a predetermined time in which the gel bodies are formed from the precursors of the porous material. The gel bodies are arranged adjacent to one another, a spacer is provided between two adjacent gel bodies so as to provide a clearance therebetween, and the solvent is then removed from the gel bodies.

A process for preparing a porous material involves at least the steps of providing a mixture (I) containing a composition (A), which contains components suitable to from an organic gel, and a solvent (B); reacting the components in the composition (A) in the presence of the solvent (B) to form a gel; and drying of the gel. The composition (A) contains a catalyst system (CS), which contains at least a catalyst component (C1) selected from ammonium salts and phosphonium salts, and an acid with a phosphor containing acid group as a catalyst component (C2). Porous materials can be obtained in this way and the porous materials can be used as thermal insulation material and in vacuum insulation panels and vacuum insulation systems, in particular in interior or exterior thermal insulation systems as well as for insulation of refrigerators and freezers and in water tank or ice maker insulation systems.

The present disclosure generally relates to aerogel materials and methods for producing them.

The present invention discloses novel porous polymeric compositions comprising random copolymers of amides, imides, ureas, and carbamic-anhydrides, useful for the synthesis of monolithic bimodal microporous/macroporous carbon aerogels. It also discloses methods for producing said microporous/macroporous carbon aerogels by the reaction of a polyisocyanate compound and a polycarboxylic acid compound, followed by pyrolytic carbonization, and by reactive etching with CO.sub.2 at elevated temperatures. Also disclosed are methods for using the microporous/macroporous carbon aerogels in the selective capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide.

The invention relates to a porous material comprising at least one polyfunctional isocyanate (a1) and at least one polyfunctional substituted aromatic amine (a2-s) of the general formula (I): ##STR00001##
where R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are selected from among hydrogen and linear or branched alkyl groups having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms and all substituents Q.sup.1 to Q.sup.5 and Q.sup.1′ to Q.sup.5′ are selected from among hydrogen, a primary amino group and a linear or branched alkyl group having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms, where at least one of Q.sup.1, Q.sup.3 and Q.sup.5 and at least one of Q.sup.1′, Q.sup.3′ and Q.sup.5′ is a primary amino group and the compound has at least one linear or branched alkyl group having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms in the α position relative to at least one primary amino group bound to the aromatic ring in formula (I).

Nanoporous three-dimensional networks of polyurethane particles, e.g., polyurethane aerogels, and methods of preparation are presented herein. Such nanoporous networks may include polyurethane particles made up of linked polyisocyanate and polyol monomers. In some cases, greater than about 95% of the linkages between the polyisocyanate monomers and the polyol monomers are urethane linkages. To prepare such networks, a mixture including polyisocyanate monomers (e.g., diisocyanates, triisocyanates), polyol monomers (diols, triols), and a solvent is provided. The polyisocyanate and polyol monomers may be aliphatic or aromatic. A polyurethane catalyst is added to the mixture causing formation of linkages between the polyisocyanate monomers and the polyol monomers. Phase separation of particles from the reaction medium can be controlled to enable formation of polyurethane networks with desirable nanomorphologies, specific surface area, and mechanical properties. Various properties of such networks of polyurethane particles (e.g., strength, stiffness, flexibility, thermal conductivity) may be tailored depending on which monomers are provided in the reaction.

A product includes an aerogel having a single bulk structure, the single bulk structure having at least one dimension greater than 10 millimeters. The single bulk structure includes a plurality of pores, where each pore has a largest diameter defined as a greatest distance between pore walls of the respective pore. In addition, an average of the largest diameters of a majority of the pores is within a specified range, and the plurality of pores are distributed substantially homogenously throughout the single bulk structure.

The present invention provides articles and methods related to insulation panels made from aerogels, and specifically polyimide based aerogels. Such insulation panels have a wide variety of applications, including specifically in aerospace applications.

The present invention relates to a process for preparing a porous material, at least comprising the steps of providing a mixture (I) comprising a composition (A) comprising components suitable to form an organic gel and a solvent (B), reacting the components in the composition (A) in the presence of the solvent (B) to form a gel, and drying of the gel obtained in step b), wherein the composition (A) comprises a catalyst system (CS) at least comprising a catalyst component (C1) selected from the group consisting of ammonium salts and a carboxylic acid as catalyst component (C2). The invention further relates to the porous materials which can be obtained in this way and the use of the porous materials as thermal insulation material and in vacuum insulation panels and vacuum insulation systems, in particular in interior or exterior thermal insulation systems as well as for the insulation of refrigerators and freezers and in water tank or ice maker insulation systems.

The present disclosure relates to nanoporous micro-spherical polyimide aerogels and a method for preparing the same. The use of the method for preparing polyimide aerogels, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, enables the preparation of the polyimide aerogels through a low-temperature process, and thus can save energy and time when compared with existing preparing methods, can reduce production costs, and can prepare spherical polyimide aerogels, which are micro-sized uniform particles, having excellent chemical stability, thermal insulation characteristics, and absorption-desorption characteristics while having nano-sized pores. The spherical polyimide aerogels can be applied to various fields, such as an insulator, a drug delivery medium, and a catalyst supporter, due to excellent physical properties thereof.