Materials Platform · Freeze Casting + Freeze Drying

Ice as the Mould,
Ordered Porous Channels

AeroClay™ uses a lightweight clay–polymer scaffold (density 0.1 g/cm³) as its structural matrix. Through freeze casting and freeze drying,
the advancing front of growing ice crystals aligns functional fillers into an anisotropic, oriented channel structure, forming a lightweight structural part.

Ice-crystal front pushing fillers aside to form oriented lamellar channels

The advancing ice-crystal front pushes functional fillers aside and concentrates them between the crystals, forming oriented lamellar channels (right: actual oriented pores).

0.1 g/cm³

Matrix density · ultra-light

10–100 µm

Macro oriented channels

2–50 nm

Meso network pores

3–10 Å

Micro adsorption pores

01AeroClay Is a Materials Platform

One clay–polymer base scaffold with interchangeable functional fillers — turning “one material” into “a family of materials.”

A Materials Platform

AeroClay™ is not a single product but an extensible ordered porous materials platform; one structural principle supports many functions.

A Universal Scaffold

The lightweight clay–polymer matrix acts as a universal scaffold — providing structural strength, ultra-light weight and ordered channels — the common base of every derived product.

Customized on Demand

By selecting the functional filler components, the material is tailored to different industries — adsorption, thermal conduction, low dielectric, oil-repellent breathability and more.

02Hierarchical Pore Structure

From millimetre to nanometre, multiple scales work together: oriented channels for fast transport, network pores for the skeleton, micropores for selective adsorption.

Macro Channels

10–100 µm

Oriented Channels

Continuous straight channels left after the ice sublimes, giving gases, liquids and energy a low-resistance pathway.

Mesopores

2–50 nm

Network Structure

A network formed by the clay–polymer, building a lightweight yet stable skeleton.

Micro Pores

3–10 Å

Adsorption Pores

Pore structures within the functional filler that provide selective adsorption, defining the material’s function.

03Process: Freeze Casting + Freeze Drying

The process combines freeze casting and freeze drying: directional ice growth “writes in” the ordered structure, then sublimation preserves it intact.

Uniform Dispersion

Clay, polymer binder / cross-linker and the active filler are thoroughly and uniformly dispersed into a stable slurry.

Directional Solidification

A constant temperature gradient is established and held vertically / horizontally on the freezing substrate, guiding ice to grow directionally into a continuous, regularly aligned structure.

Sublimation Drying

The ice phase is sublimed under vacuum, fully preserving the open lamellar structure inside and avoiding pore collapse from surface tension.