[time-nuts] temperature stability basics

Poul-Henning Kamp phk at phk.freebsd.dk
Sat Nov 27 18:47:31 UTC 2010


In message <05fb5f7f819d035fdc8556f9b4842b98.squirrel at webmail.sonic.net>, "Rick
 Karlquist" writes:

>The general consensus was that
>all foams were more or less similar thermally, 

There is indeed very little difference, in particular if the foam
is encapsulated so the open/closed bubble difference is eliminated.

These days aerogel is the big thing, and Aspen Aerogel's "spaceloft"
series of products are seeing a lot of use in tight spaces.

It is also possible to buy aerogel as granulate, for instance from
United Nuclear, but be aware that it will draw moisture like there
is no water tomorrow, so always use gloves and a respiratory filter.

I'm not sure the mechanical strength of aerogel would be any use
for military OCXO's[1], but for lab-settings, it would work fine.

Poul-Henning

[1] People tend to forget that aerogel is one of the strongest
materials *relative to its weight*, and at the same time the
solid with the lowest density.  The first thing people do on
picking up a piece of aerogel is typically to crush it.

-- 
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