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Varying Synthesis Parameters on Potato Starch Aerogel for Aerospace Applications
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Researchers systematically studied potato starch aerogels as biodegradable alternatives to toxic-solvent polymer aerogels for aerospace applications, varying starch concentration, glycerol plasticizer, and acetic acid content. The resulting aerogels achieved suitable density, Young's modulus, and thermal conductivity, demonstrating that sustainable biopolymer aerogels can meet aerospace performance requirements.
Aerogels have many potential uses in common and higher tech aerospace application. Silica aerogels are fragile, and organic aerogels are tougher, but they are generally synthesized using toxic solvents. Biodegradable aerogels, if they possess similar properties as polymer aerogels, will widely be utilized in many aerospace applications and offer environmental benefits. In this work, potato starch aerogels were systematically studied. The potato starch concentration, the amount of plasticizer (glycerol), and an acid source (acetic acid) were varied. The relationship of the precursors on potato starch aerogel properties, such as density, shrinkage, porosity, BET surface area, mechanical properties, and thermal conductivities, were studied. The resulting potato starch aerogels possess suitable density, Young’s modulus, and thermal conductivity for usability in many aero-space applications.
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Varying Synthesis Parameters of Potato Starch Aerogel for Aerospace Applications
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Researchers optimized synthesis parameters for potato starch aerogels — lightweight, biodegradable alternatives to fragile silica or toxic-solvent-based polymer aerogels — finding that adjustments to starch concentration, crosslinking, and drying conditions produced materials with properties potentially suitable for aerospace insulation applications.
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Optimization of TPS Films Using An Adaptive Design of Experiments Approach in a Bayesian Optimization Framework
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Researchers applied Bayesian optimization with Gaussian process regression to an adaptive design of experiments framework for optimizing thermoplastic starch (TPS) film formulations, testing varying concentrations of acetic acid and glycerol as plasticizers in potato starch and identifying 1.06% plasticizer weight as the composition yielding the highest tensile strength (2.33 MPa) and elongation at break (93.45%).
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