Turkey has become the fourth country in the world to produce aerogel. The project to produce aerogel, known as the world's lightest solid material and capable of withstanding temperatures between -200 and +1200 degrees Celsius, which began eight years ago with "strategic product" support from TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey), has reached its conclusion.
Aerogel, which can be used as an insulation material in many areas from aircraft to armored vehicles, buildings to critical facilities, will be used for the first time in the air conditioning system of the Hürkuş jet-powered training aircraft being developed by TUSAŞ. Aerogels are solid materials obtained by replacing the liquid component in a gel with air using nanotechnology. Because they give a smoke-like appearance, they are also called frozen smoke or "blue smoke".
It was first created by Steven Kistler in 1931 using silica gel; later, carbon aerogels were obtained in the 1990s.
Aerogels produced at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories have a density almost approaching that of air and are listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the "lightest known solid.".
