aerogel everest field test

Thanks, I was just wondering about this the other day.

IIRC, the pricepoint of this jacket was comparable to down.

Taken from a news article: "Hanes spokesman Matt Hall said any Champion item developed containing aerogel would be "significantly under $100."

I wonder what they wore above Camp 4, since they don't appear to have used any of the 3 jackets listed.

I wonder if we should be rolling out a 1/8" layer of zero-loft for winter sleeping rather than evazote foam. Does anyone know if zero-loft can be purchased by John Q. Public?

Very interesting, and thanks. However, I note that they do say:
'The radiant foil layer, which is found throughout the
entire garment, did its job to radiate heat back to the
body. However, during more rigorous activities the foil
prevented the escape of moisture.'

I fear me that this means the garment might be a sauna if you are sweating, which does happen at altitudes lower then Everest. Can they solve this? Dunno. (Many have tried.)

Cheers

If Hanes/Champion can nail down the specifics and overcome the drawbacks, I'll be following the development of the line VERY closely. There's a TON of potential here, but only time will tell.

the obvious killer app would be sleeping bag … can u imagine a 3 mm thick sleeping bad that works when wet …

so long as they can solve the breathability issue …

In the Aerospace game, AeroGel often came up for discussion because of the low density and very good publicity resulting in articles raving about the low density and the ability (under special circumstances) to be an effective thermal insulator.

I remember the days when AeroGel was a Silica only based product. Some time ago, people began to use Sol-Gel technology for lots more things and this included other ceramics and more recently polymers.

But, back in the old Silica only days, AeroGel used to be like the weather. Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything (with) about it.".

I actually have had a pair of AeroGel polymeric shoe inserts for cold weather, and in almost three years have never gotten around to using them. Maybe this year.

When I trimmed them and used a 30X stereo microscope on the cut edges, I noticed nothing remarkable about the pore structure, but did notice what seemed to be several different laminations of porous polymer.

I've lived through well over a couple of dozen "materials breakthroughs" that never achieved star performance.

Eric, that's the thing…. there's SO much potential here that it's scary. Gloves, hats, shoes, clothes, bags, pads…

Now, I'm a traditionalist/naturalist in many respects, so it'll be hard to give up down, but the possibilities of aerogel are quite intriguing.

Is this a VBL test on Everest or do I have it all wrong? Figuring out venting will be interesting if it is.

I can't think of much aerogel clothing that I'd be able to take advantage of. Maybe an aerogel patch in the pants seat to prevent heat loss during seated breaks. Mittens and gloves seem like another great place to use them since they don't get cold when pressure is applied like other insulators. Maybe a balaclava and booties since the head & feet sweat a lot and aerogel performance wouldn't degrade.

Of course there is sleeping pads and insoles, but both already exist. I already have a sleeping pad with aerogel. I certainly wouldn't mind more aerogel and less bulk & weight.

Aerogel is destroyed by liquids and so "warm when wet" is not one of its inherent virtues. That is probably the reason they added the aluminum layer and used it as a vapor barrier.

The reason it is a good insulator is that it has very low conduction because the pores average 20nm which is smaller than the mean free path of air. This characteristic is the most obvious from looking at it closely.

It has poor blocking of radiation. In most applications elemental carbon or an aluminum layer needs to be added to aerogel to improve this factor. This increases the weight.

The R-values (listed as w/m2 or J/m2 in the thermal conductivity tables of most physics manuals) for comparison are:

Goose down = 5.8
Polyurethane foam = 5.9
Silica aerogel = 7
Carbon aerogel = 12

The major benefit of aerogel is where you need the maximum insulation per thickness, not per oz. Examples of reasonable application for UL backpackers are gloves and foot beds in trail runners.

I would agree with Richard. I have used aerogel blanket of the same kind that goes into the POE sleeping pads, Toasty Feet insoles, Burton jackets, etc., for insulating cryogenic vessels and pipe in my lab, and it is very heavy. A 9mm thick layer (about 1/3 inch), having an R value of less than 5, weighs about 25 oz/yard.

Granular or powdered aerogel might have a bit more potential (the polyester felt in the aerogel blanket adds significant weight), but per unit weight it would still fail to come anywhere close to the thermal performance of high fill power down. A very thin insulating jacket is achievable with aerogel, but not a lightweight one.