BUFFALO – Alkegen, the leading speciality materials platform created following the merger of Unifrax and Lydall late last year – is introducing a proprietary technology branded AlkeGel.

This flexible aerogel material is designed for electric vehicle and battery fire protection applications, along with other industrial thermal management uses. It offers exceptionally low thermal conductivity and dustiness, superior thermal performance and a reduction in insulation thicknesses compared to competing insulation products.

AlkeGel is Alkegen’s first step into fibre-based aerogel composite materials, building on specialisms in battery technologies, filtration media and speciality insulation.

Unifrax and Lydall have a deep history of vertically integrated manufacturing at large scale to provide solutions for advanced industries including electric vehicles, filtration, aerospace, and chemical processing. The company expects production for AlkeGel materials to come online in mid-2022 with plans to build thousands of tons of long-term manufacturing capacity.

“AlkeGel is the latest development from our long-standing tradition of creating superior new products and solutions to meet the greatest challenges of our customers,” said Chad Cannan, chief innovation officer at Alkegen. “These composite aerogel materials offer excellent insulation properties and include advanced proprietary technology features we’ve developed with our novel aerogel process. AlkeGel creates performance advantages for our customers in terms of improved product handling, a wide range of shapes and sizes and step change EV fire safety relative to other high performance insulations on the market today.”