Design of an Additive Manufacturing Machine for Aerogels

Silica aerogels are mesoporous material with ultra-low thermal conductivity and density. Aerogels are generally created by forming a sol-gel in a mold. These sol-gels then have the solvent extracted to create an aerogel, which is generally done at Union using the Rapid SuperCritical Extraction (RSCE) process developed by Professors Anderson and Carroll. As molds can be difficult to create for special shapes, such as a duck, and are generally not suitable for rapid prototyping, other methods of shaping a gel are of significant interest. Due to the fragility of aerogels, subtractive manufacturing after extraction is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Thus begs the question, might additive manufacturing of aerogels be an option? Based on prior work, Francis Fan '25 successfully proved that an aerogel ink can be created and extruded into shapes, then extracted using the Union College RSCE process. 3D printers are the most common form of additive manufacturing, and are now widespread enough that it is possible to adapt a commercially available 3D printer to produce 3D printed sol-gels to be extracted into aerogels using the Union College RSCE process. This project focuses on this prospect, from obtaining a 3D printer to rebuilding and adapting it to produce 3D printed aerogels. An effort has been made to retain much of the original components to keep this system easily adaptable to any 3D printer, and the printer runs free, open-source software to control the system. A discussion on the design and development of the printer and a working prototype will be presented.