Mechanical properties of silica aerogels prepared from a mixture of TEOS and organo-alkoxysilanes of type R1SiX3

Silica aerogels were prepared from a mixture of tetraethylorthosilicate and organoalkoxysilanes. The effects of organo-alkoxysilanes on the mechanical properties of the silica aerogels were studied. The flexibility of silica aerogels was significantly improved by incorporation of organo-alkoxysilanes. When MTES and TEOS were combined as precursors of silica areogels, with the increased amount of MTES, the apparent elastic modulus and apparent compressive strength monotonously rose. At the same organoalkoxysilanes to TEOS ratio, the size of alkyl groups of the organo-alkoxysilanes had little effect on the mechanical properties. In series of MTES and TEOS, the lowest elastic modulus of silica skeleton and the highest compressive strength of silica skeleton were observed at MTES to TEOS ratio of around 50:50. At a certain organo-alkoxysilanes to TEOS ratio, the elastic modulus of silica skeleton increased and the compressive strength of silica skeleton decreased with the size increase of the alkyl groups.