The paper provides a method for testing the elastic modulus of aerogels with the measurement of the aerogel thermal conductivity. The principle of the method is to calculate the sound velocity based on the measured thermal conductivity, and then obtain the elastic modulus with the elastic mechanics model. The present method overcomes the disadvantage of existing testing methods, such as mechanics experiment, ultra sonic echo test, natural frequency test, which are difficult to measure the elastic modulus under ultra-high and low temperature environments. Since the temperature dependent thermal conductivity of aerogels can be obtained more easily, the present method has a wide temperature range for testing the elastic modulus of aerogels, especially at ultra-high and low temperatures. The experimental data of elastic modulus from literatures are employed to validate the present method for silica, carbon and alumina aerogels, and the results indicate the present method has good testing accuracy.

aerogel, thermal conductivity, elastic modulus