From NASA to Your Kitchen Fire Blanket: What 15 Years with Aerogel Actually Taught Me in 2025

I started touching aerogel in 2010 when a few grams of powder from America that cost more than gold.

Fast-forward to 2025: I ship 40ft containers every week of 3mm, 5mm, 10mm and occasional 20mm hydrophobic aerogel blanket, and I still get goosebumps every time a client rips out rockwool and switches to aerogel mid-project.

Here’s what fifteen years on real jobsites taught me – no textbooks, no NASA hype, just dirt under my nails.

Melbourne, 2018 – the job that made me quit rockwool forever Fitzroy 1890s double-brick terrace. Architect wanted external insulation but heritage overlay said no. We glued 10mm aerogel blanket straight to the internal brick, skim-coated with lime render. Final added thickness: 14mm. Wall U-value dropped from 2.1 to 0.31. The owner sent me a photo last month – still bone-dry after seven Melbourne winters.

Shanghai, 2023 – curtain wall condensation nightmare cured in one weekend Lujiazui Grade-A office tower, aluminum mullions dripping in winter. Maintenance team wrapped every mullion with 5mm adhesive-backed aerogel blanket. Surface temperature jumped from 9°C to 17.8°C overnight. Landlord added the same fix to four more buildings before we even invoiced the first one.

Shenzhen, 2025 – EV battery factory fire safety upgrade Client needed A1 non-combustible insulation between 4680 cells. We supplied 3mm aerogel blanket as spacer + thermal runaway barrier. Third-party cone calorimeter test: zero flame spread, backside temperature stayed under 120°C after 20 minutes.

They ordered another 60,000 m² last week.

My own kitchen, 2024 I replaced the old fiberglass fire blanket with a 1m × 1m piece of 6mm aerogel fire blanket. When my wife accidentally set the wok on fire last Chinese New Year, one throw and the flame was gone in three seconds. The blanket still hangs beside the stove, zero damage, zero smell.

What actually matters in 2025 (not lab numbers):

Hydrophobic really means hydrophobic. I’ve pulled 8-year-old aerogel blanket off Melbourne roofs – still repels water like new. Rockwool in the skip next to it? Solid brick of mold.

A1 fire rating is not marketing. I’ve watched 10mm blanket take a 1,100°C blowtorch on the front while I could keep my hand on the back.

3mm and 5mm versions are game-changers for battery compartments and curtain wall spandrels – places where every millimeter counts.

10mm is the sweet spot for heritage internal jobs and steel-frame external wrap.

20mm only when the client is chasing U=0.15 or lower and has the budget.

The stuff I no longer waste time on:

Non-hydrophobic aerogel (looking at you, early Chinese samples)

Anything without third-party A1 certificate

Projects that won’t let me train the installers – bad joints kill performance faster than rain

Biggest myth still floating around: “aerogel is too expensive”.

Reality: when you count zero maintenance, zero water damage, zero fire risk, and the extra sellable floor area from thinner walls, it’s usually cheaper than rockwool over 15 years.

The future I’m already shipping today:

Pre-cut aerogel fire blankets with glow-in-dark handles for homes and hotels

3mm aerogel blanket laminated with intumescent for EV battery packs

5mm aerogel + PCM composite panels for passive cooling in Brisbane offices

Bottom line after fifteen years:

Aerogel stopped being “future material” a long time ago.

It’s in my kitchen, my kids’ school renovation, my clients’ factories, and every Passivhaus I touch, and soon in your house too if you care about fire safety and never wanting to replace insulation again.

Want photos, test reports, or just want to see the kitchen fire blanket that saved Chinese New Year dinner?

DM me. I’ll send everything.

Ruibin An

Hebei Woqin Trading Co., Ltd

ruibinan395@gmail.com