Unusually stable liquid foams

Obtaining stable liquid foams is an important issue in view of their numerous applications. In some of these, the liquid foam in itself is of interest, in others, the liquid foam acts as a precursor for the generation of solid foam. In this short review, we will make a survey of the existing results in the area. This will include foams stabilised by surfactants, proteins and particles. The origin of the stability is related to the slowing down of coarsening, drainage or coalescence, and eventually to their arrest. The three effects are frequently coupled and in many cases, they act simultaneously and enhance one another. Drainage can be arrested if the liquid of the foam either gels or solidifies. Coalescence is slowed down by gelified foam films, and it can be arrested if the films become very thick and/or rigid. These mechanisms are thus qualitatively easy to identify, but they are less easy to model in order to obtain quantitative predictions. The slowing down of coarsening requests either very thick or small films, and its arrest was observed in cases where the surface compression modulus was large. The detail of the mechanisms at play remains unclear.     

SITE-RESOLVED WIDE-ANGLE X-RAY STUDIES ON STRUCTURAL PP FOAMS INJECTION-MOLDED BY THE LOW-PRESSURE PROCESS

Structural foam specimens, consisting of three co-axial cylinders of different diameter and length, were injection-molded from isotactic polypropylene, mixed with 0.5 wt% azodicarbonamide as blowing agent, by the classical low-pressure process in a mold cavity (temperature 20°C) pre-pressurized with nitrogen, at melt temperatures of 200, 220, and 240°C, applying different sprue systems and injection directions. Cross-sections were cut from the middle of each cylinder in longitudinal orientation and investigated by site-resolved wide-angle x-ray scattering, making use of the so-called “parallel transmission” geometry. The measurements yielded detailed information about the orientation, dimensions, and interplanar spacings of α-PP crystallites, the distribution of β-PP, and the crystallinity in the cross-sections of the moldings and led to the establishment of general relations between the molding conditions and the microstructure of the moldings in dependence on the configuration of the specimens.     

Porous polyurethanes synthesized within high internal phase emulsions

PolyHIPE are highly porous, emulsion‐templated polymers typically synthesized via free‐radical polymerization within a water‐in‐oil (W/O) high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) whose dispersed, aqueous phase occupies more than 74% of the volume. The synthesis of a polyHIPE containing biodegradable polymers is not straightforward because the presence of both an organic phase and an aqueous phase within the HIPE limits the type of polymerization reactions that can be used. This article describes the synthesis of polyHIPE containing biodegradable poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) groups through the step‐growth reaction of a diisocyanate with a flexible PCL triol to form a crosslinked polyurethane. The reaction of the diisocyanate with the water in the HIPE produced urea groups and large bubbles from the generation of CO₂. The polymer walls between these bubbles consisted of a porous, emulsion‐templated structure. Polymerization with an excess of diisocyanate produced a significant enhancement in the amounts of urea and CO₂. The reduction in the flexible PCL content and the enhancement in the rigid urea content produced an increase in wall modulus that was over 20‐fold. The ability to synthesize polyHIPE through such step‐growth reactions is an important advance in the adaptation of polyHIPE for such applications as tissue engineering. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 5806–5814, 2009     

Microcellular processing and relaxation of poly(ether ether ketone)

The semicrystalline microcellular closed‐cell foams are prepared by a two‐stage batch foaming process from poly(ether ether ketone) and characterized by scanning electronic microscopy. It can be observed that there are two kinds of cells with obviously different cellular sizes in the same transect and the distribution of larger cells (about 7 μm) looks like sandwich. The effects of foaming temperatures and transfer times on the cellular sizes and cell densities of porous materials were discussed. Particular emphasis was given to the effects of crystalline on the microcellular morphology. The relaxation mechanism of microcellular materials was systemically investigated by dynamic mechanics analysis. A plain on the storage modulus curve before T_g was observed due to the densification of cells. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 2890–2898, 2007     

A steady‐state mass balance model of the polycarbonate–CO2 system reveals a self‐regulating cell growth mechanism in the solid‐state microcellular process

A simple mechanism regulating polymer mobility is demonstrated to determine initial and final growth states of solid‐state microcellular foams. This mechanism, governed by the extent of plasticization of the polymer by the dissolved gases, is examined with a mass balance model and results from foam growth experiments. Polycarbonate was exposed to CO₂, which acted as both a plasticizing gas and a physical blowing agent driving foam growth. The polycarbonate specimens were saturated to the equilibrium gas concentration at 25 °C for CO₂ pressures of 1–6 MPa in 1‐MPa increments. Equilibrated specimens were heated in a glycerin bath until thermal equilibrium was reached, and a steady foam structure was attained. Glycerin bath temperatures of 30–150 °C in 10 °C increments were examined. Using knowledge of gas solubility, the equation of state for CO₂, the effective glass‐transition temperature as a function of gas concentration, and a model for mass balance within a solid‐state foam, we demonstrate that foam growth terminates when sufficient gas is driven from the polycarbonate matrix into the foam cells. The foam cell walls freeze at the elevated bath temperature because of gas transport from the polycarbonate matrix and the associated rise in the polymer glass‐transition temperature to that of the heated bath. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 39: 868–880, 2001     

Application of multi-layered polyurethane foams for flat-walled anechoic linings

Previous work demonstrated that a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm could be successfully employed as an optimiser to make the design of flat-walled multi-layered anechoic linings more efficient. In the present work, such an algorithm is employed to investigate the practical aspects of the application of multi-layered polyurethane foams as the flat-walled anechoic lining. The investigation includes aspects such as the efficacy of a single layer of material, the minimum number of layers of linings to achieve the minimum overall thickness for low (100 Hz), mid (250 Hz) and high (500 Hz) cut-off frequencies, the use of the three-layered lining composite for low to mid cut-off frequencies and the effect of air gaps.     

X-ray computed tomography-based modeling of polymeric foams: The effect of finite element model size on the large strain response

A hybrid numerical–experimental approach is used to characterize the macroscopic mechanical behavior of polymeric foams. The method is based on microstructural characterization of foams with X-ray computed tomography (CT) and conversion of the data to finite element (FE) models. The 2D models are created from a 3D close-celled foam and subjected to compression loads. Since the large strain regime is explored, contact between elements is incorporated. It is shown that, for calculating the effective Young's modulus, a model consisting of at least 11²–12² cells in the model should be used, whereas for the large strain regime 12²–14² cells in the model are needed. Discretization had a significant influence on the results, where relatively coarse elements caused loss of connectivity in the cell walls and thickening of the cell walls. It is shown that at least three to four elements should be taken over the thickness of the cell walls for these structures. Finally, a good qualitative agreement is observed between the deformations found with the FE models and in situ compression experiments of an open-celled foam during X-ray CT. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 1473–1482, 2010     

Fabrication of Stable Polyaniline Foams and Their Photoelectric Conversion Behaviors

We report a foaming‐polymerization method to prepare stable polyaniline (PANI)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) foams. The formation mechanism of the foam materials is investigated and the photoelectric conversion properties of PANI/PVA foams are studied in detail. The enhancement of photoelectric conversion behavior in foams is achieved, which has potential application in solar cells and nano‐electronics devices.     

Effect of cross-link density on the morphology,thermal and mechanical properties of flexible molded polyurea/urethane foams and films

The effect of cross-link density on the morphology and properties of two flexible molded foam samples was studied. Film samples based on the same foam formulations were also fabricated to study the feasibility of using them for the characterization of complex foam products. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data show that films and foam samples have entirely different hard domain ordering. The results of the study of morphology indicate that an increase in cross-link density appears to increases phase mixing in film and foam samples. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies indicate that the soft segment glass transition temperature (T_g) is independent of cross-link density (at levels studied). But for both film and foam samples, morphology clearly dicates the manner in which moisture interacts with the hard domains. Results of the stress-strain behavior indicate that an increase in cross-link density increases the modulus and decreases the elongation at break. Mooney-Rivilin modeling of the stress-elongation behavior of film shows that the higher cross-link density sample gives more nonaffine behavior, possibly due to a heterogeneous distribution of hard domains. Similar modeling of the foams was not possible because of their linear stress response to surprisingly high elongation. The results of the power law modeling of stress relaxation response indicates that with an increase in cross-link density (covalent and virtual), the power law exponent decreases as expected. At levels of cross-linking and hard segment content studied, stroke-controlled equilibrium hysteresis was independent of cross-link density. Normalized dynamic mechanical spectra (DMS) show that the film samples have higher rubbery plateau modulus. The magnitude of the area under the tan δ curve at T_g indicates greater flexibility of polymer segments in foam sample. Structure-property relationships of cellular materials can be established by characterizing film samples because a parallel trend exists between each group. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.