Fabricating Novel Geometries of Low-Density GA-CH Aerogels

Low density GA-CH and GA-CD aerogels have found applications in fusion experiments at NIF, OMEGA, and Z. However, these applications sometimes require unusual and precise geometries achievable only by machining, which is difficult given the fragile structure of low density (<50 mg/cc) GA-CH aerogels. In this work, we investigated two approaches to make GA-CH aerogels machinable: adding a removable wax and adding a leachable alumina coating. The wax was added using solvent exchange within the liquid GA-CH gel and the alumina coating was created using atomic layer deposition (ALD) techniques. 1-5 mm spherical voids were also created within the aerogels using beads that were subsequently leached. Samples were characterized using density measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray imaging. The ability to easily fabricate novel geometries of GA-CH aerogels opens the door to many inertial confinement fusion applications.