Time vs Gel

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DiamondGirl
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Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:16 pm
Location: Syracuse, NY

Time vs Gel

Post by DiamondGirl »

This may be a silly question, but how does all the time that has elapsed since the initial scanning affect the quality of the gel? Or does it? I know I've read on several old posts that some of the challenges that are faced during scanning are the inclusions, imperfections and surface quality. Does this degrade as the gel ages, or is it able to be preserved in some type of environmentally controlled containment?

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Nikita
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Post by Nikita »

Huh. Never thought of that! I'd be interested to know how the quality is maintained too!
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DanZ
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Re: Time vs Gel

Post by DanZ »

DiamondGirl wrote:This may be a silly question, but how does all the time that has elapsed since the initial scanning affect the quality of the gel? Or does it? I know I've read on several old posts that some of the challenges that are faced during scanning are the inclusions, imperfections and surface quality. Does this degrade as the gel ages, or is it able to be preserved in some type of environmentally controlled containment?
This is an excellent question and one that the team has worried a lot about. The short answer is that the aerogel is surprising chemically inert and is hydrophobic (does not absorb water from the air). Nevertheless, to be safe, the Stardust flight aerogel is kept in an inert atmosphere (dry N2) except when it is out for scanning. At all times it is is in a clean room to keep it clean. We haven't seen any evidence for degradation or contamination since the return. We also have "scrap" aerogel that has been in an uncontrolled environment in our lab for 10 years -- it doesn't show any evidence of degradation either.
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