Engineering Guide
This guide frames the inputs behind material selection. It does not replace the equipment designer's thermal model, safety review, qualification plan, or system test.
Repair series
Part 1 of a seven-article series on preparing MLI, CryoTape, fiberglass and aluminum foil composites, adsorbents, molecular sieves, and pre-cut parts for repair or new-build vacuum work.
Use source-backed checks from EIGA, NASA, and CERN to build a repeatable material package instead of solving every detail after the tank is open.
LNG repair series
Part 2 of the repair series: how to prepare matching aluminum foil, fiberglass paper, local patches, approved tape, and vacuum support materials for aging LNG tanks.
For mature LNG tanks, the repair goal is usually to restore the original foil and fiberglass paper structure, not replace it during a maintenance window.
Selection guide
A practical guide for selecting MLI material packages for LH2, LHe, LNG, LOX, satellite thermal control, superconducting systems, vacuum-jacketed piping, and research cryogenics.
Compare common cryogenic applications by temperature boundary, vacuum condition, material package, and RFQ parameters before choosing a product family.
LNG tank maintenance
Practical notes for teams preparing compatible foil, fiberglass paper, adsorbents, pre-cut parts, and spare kits before an LNG tank is opened or re-evacuated.
Focus on repair materials, local details, and vacuum support without changing a mature aluminum foil and fiberglass paper design.
Web reference
Open the web version for fast jumps to reflective shields, spacer materials, Lockheed equation notes, test data, performance trends, institutions, and references.
Unlike the PDF, the web reference supports anchor links, so customers can jump directly to the section relevant to their application or test plan.
Liquid hydrogen MLI
A focused engineering note on using lower layer density near the liquid-hydrogen cold side to reduce spacer/contact conduction, with NASA layer-density and variable-density MLI references.
Review why cold-side compression, spacer contact, and local conductive bridges can matter more as radiation falls near the 20 K boundary.
Perforated MLI film
Compare 6.5 μm to 25 μm substrates, 600 Å aluminum coating, single-side and double-side metallizing, and perforation open area for vacuum MLI layers.
Use the material thickness, metallized side, and hole pattern together with the blanket position: warm-side handling layer, internal radiation shield, venting layer, or cold-side low-conduction zone.
Advanced Topics
Beyond the Lockheed equation — compare 7 MLI thermal models with accuracy data, understand structural and penetration heat leaks, and learn engineering manufacturing best practices.
Learn why Lockheed is a starting point, not the finish line — and how real heat load is built from MLI, supports, penetrations, and installation quality.
MLI reduces radiative heat transfer through alternating reflective and low-conduction spacer layers; it is an installed system rather than a single-property sheet material.
Residual-gas conduction can dominate when vacuum quality is inadequate. Pressure target, pump-down, gas load, leakage, permeation, hold time, and adsorbent strategy belong in the same engineering discussion.
Too little separation increases radiative exchange; excessive compression creates solid-conduction paths. Density must be controlled around curves, joints, supports, and local fixing points.
Heat flux and apparent conductivity are meaningful only with test conditions. Boundary temperatures, vacuum, layer density, area definition, edge losses, supports, and instrumentation must accompany any value.
Temperature is only one selection input. Oxygen, hydrogen, helium, contamination, permeability, ignition, electrical, magnetic, radiation, and cleanliness requirements can change the allowable materials.
A sound material selection can be undermined by compressed layers, open seams, uncontrolled tape coverage, contamination, or poor fit around geometry. Delivery form should follow the installation plan.
