Porous Glasses from Aerogels : from Organic Liquid to Mineral Materials

International audienceAccording to an easy sintering stage, composite aerogels are alternative ways to synthesize silica glass at temperatures ranging from 900 to 1200 °C, close to half the temperatures used for the glass melting process. The heat treatment is tailored to obtain fully densified or porous glasses. The kinetics of dimensional shrinkage is characterized during the sintering mechanism, and we confirmed that the viscous flow-sintering model also applies to composite aerogels. Porous glasses with a broad range of porosity and physical properties (mechanical strength, elasticity modulus, permeability) have been synthesized. The open pore structure is used to synthesize glass ceramics