A process is presented for fabricating titanium doped silica aerogels. Aerogels were produced by the hydrolysis of TEOS and titanium isopropoxide in ethanol and then supercritically dried in a nitrogen overpressure. A detailed study of gelling and annealing was performed to minimize shrinkage and produce dried gels with densities less than 10% of ordinary glass. Lightweighted structures with densities between 0.16 g/cm³ and 0.06 g/cm³ were produced.

Date Published: 6 December 1993
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 2018, Passive Materials for Optical Elements II, (6 December 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.165227

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2018:
Passive Materials for Optical Elements II
Gary W. Wilkerson, Editor(s)