Kitchen experiments with Aerogel: Strength and composition

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Forming the aerogel is difficult. I tried cutting it with a double edge razor blade which worked okay, however it did break in some places. The blade bent as well which made it difficult. I'd try a thicker blade next time. It's important to use the sawing action to cut it, not pressure, or you'll create fissures that are easy to break.

So for the next try I hit upon using a file to slowly erode a cut through the aerogel. I wrapped the end I held in bubble wrap, partly to isolate vibrations but also because I'm sick of seeing my hands dry out (see Moisture).

At first this was extremely successful but then it broke half way through. If I had a file that was more like a needle, like they use to draw blood, I think that'd be it. The ultimate would be putting that needle file in a drill and just eroding the aerogel away. That'd keep the stress on the block very low, I think.
I tried using a straw to blow through it but wasn't very successful. This tells us the pockets of air that make up the aerogel aren't tunnels from one side to the other. Some may connect, but most don't.

We learn more about the size of those air pockets in the dye experiment
The picture of a brick on the aerogel is pretty popular so I wanted to test various weights. To increase tensile strength and work against the brittleness I first vacuum packed it using a Reynolds Handi-Vac. I tried 5 and 10lb barbells on it successfully, and then my 49.8lb toolbox which broke up the aerogel into small pieces.
Granular Aerogel is cheaper than blocks. It ...:
1. seems to be less susceptible to fluids.
2. is still a good electrical insulator but more prone to static electricity movement.
3. was harder to insulate with in small numbers because there was more room for air to pass around it. The granules themselves will still be impervious to temperature changes though.
4. worked very well in larger quantities. This is how I finally figured out the temperature problems.
Making it into a solid without compromising it proved to be a challenge. The strategy was to mix it with a liquid glue of sorts, let it dry, and then it'd be done. I used the backside of a bread pan to form tinfoil, inserted that in the bread pan, and covered it in baking spray (Everbake - much better than the grocery store stuff):

I tried silicone (Permatex Clear RTV Silicone #80855) first because it can withstand high temps and is a sort of cousin of aerogel

It was so smelly I had to put it outside, where bugs seems to be attracted to it. If you have a ventilated area like a garage I'd try that. Since I didn't and my sample was covered in little red bugs I trashed it and moved to Red Plasti Dip which hopefully would stink less so I could keep it inside:

First I laid down the aerogel granules and then spread the plasti dip over it

It quickly got "goopy" but I was still able to spread it out fairly flat:

The next day I found the Plasti Dip had "fallen" and all I had was separate clumps of aerogel, so I applied a second coat:
The result was a flexible "blanket" of aerogel:

Later I tested it's insulation properties.

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