Texture change induced by an isostatic compression of low density aero
gels exhibiting fractal geometry has been investigated. Fractal featur
es are analyzed from small angle X-ray scattering experiments. It was
found that at the onset of densification a decrease in the correlation
length occurs while the fractal dimension increases a little. Isostat
ic compression leads to cluster interpenetration. This provoked solid
arm entanglement modifies the fractal range of cluster. For higher pre
ssures correlation length does not change indicating that the cluster
size is constant. Further densification has been related to the collap
se of pores located between clusters. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. A
ll rights reserved.