Fabrication and Characterization of Alumina Aerogels made via Rapid Supercritical Extraction - Michael Bono
Hometown: Clifton Park, New York
Class Year: 2009
Major: Mechanical Engineering Minor: Visual Arts
Research Advisor: Prof. Ann Anderson
Project Description:
Aerogels are a unique class of materials consisting of a porous network of molecules surrounded by air. They are the lightest solids on earth, and are used as insulators, catalysts, and support for chemical probes. In 2002 a new method to fabricate silica aerogels was developed at Union called Rapid Supercritical Extraction (RSCE). The goal of my research was to use the RSCE process to make aerogels with a matrix of alumina (aluminum oxide), the main component of rubies and aluminum ore. I then measured the properties of the Alumina aerogels and compared them to the silica aerogels made at Union and other alumina aerogels made elsewhere.