• Polizos, Georgios
• Smith, Barton
• Bhandari, Mahabir
• Sharma, Jaswinder
• Rimsky, Charles J.

Abstract

Fenestration systems play essential roles in building aesthetics, the most important roles being visual and thermal comfort. Fenestration products are not as thermally efficient as fully insulated building walls and roofs, therefore, they are the main source of heat loss/gain from the building envelope. Various technologies are used to increase the insulation performance of fenestration glazing, including the introduction of a vacuum or an inert gas between the glass panes and the use of triple or quadruple panes. Each of these solutions has its own disadvantages—for example, leakage, thermal stress, the high cost for vacuum between panes, and leakage and higher convection for gas between panes. Plastic or glass capillaries or honeycomb structures are good candidates for enhanced transparency and thermal insulation. Plastic becomes unstable at higher temperatures and glass increases the glazing unit weight. Moreover, these structures need wide (≥5 cm) interspace, which requires special sealing and spacers, and thus becomes incompatible with the current infrastructure. Aerogel is considered to be a state-of-the-art transparent insulating material, but haziness in aerogel- filled panes due to light scattering and the high cost of manufacturing aerogels hinders its commercialization. Therefore, a material that provides aerogel like insulation but with dramatically reduced haziness and potentially lower production cost is highly desirable. The work performed under this project addressed most of the above challenges by developing a low cost thermal insulation material with better visible transparency.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• polymer
• glass
• glass
• light scattering