Insulating innovation: the evolution of industry standards

The industrial insulation marketplace is not one marked by rapid innovation. Many of the materials in use today were brought to market decades ago with the most widely used hot insulation material, mineral wool, being invented in the 1870s. Circa 1940 saw the commercialisation of calcium silicate and expanded perlite. It took another four decades before polymeric foams were introduced in the form of polyurethane (PUF), polyisocyanurate (PIR), and phenolic foams. Those materials were mostly focused on ambient and low temperature applications. There was also the introduction of microporous silica insulation, which has excellent thermal properties but a form factor that has kept the material class from being widely adopted in industrial applications. In 2003, flexible blanket insulation based on aerogel technology was introduced. Aerogels were widely studied in the research community and possessed the best insulating properties of any known solid material. However, the material, as originally invented in the early 20th century, was a brittle, extremely low-density monolith that did not lend itself to ease of application – and was notoriously difficult to manufacture. The dual innovations of fibre reinforcement in combination with aerogel to create a durable, easy-to-use blanket form factor, and the development of a manufacturing process to rapidly produce large amounts of material efficiently, made it possible to bring this class of materials to market.

Aerogel-based insulation

When they were first introduced to the marketplace in 2003, aerogel composite blanket insulations were met with excitement, curiosity, and some scepticism. The engineers that designed deepwater pipe-in-pipe systems were the first adopters. Other SME’s who focused on terrestrial assets took a more pragmatic view of the new technology, wanting rigorous review prior to approval. Once they greenlit its use, the benefits to the design and construction teams became clear and the inevitable march to widespread adoption began.

Standardisation of materials

Looking at any technology adoption curve, there will always be the innovators and early adopters who see the potential in a technology and are willing to look past some of the inevitable shortcomings of that new technology coming to market. However, for technology to gain the acceptance of early majority users, it must have a far more robust ecosystem. Having a material standard which has been developed by a reputable standards society is one of the most important parts of that ecosystem. For flexible aerogel insulation blankets, that standard is the ASTM C1728-23 ‘Standard Specification for Flexible Aerogel Insulation.’

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