4 research outputs found
Development of a novel process to fabricate hierarchical microporous open-cell polymer foam
No full textA new process to fabricate polymeric hierarchical microporous foams was developed and the effects of process parameters on the cell structure, Young’s Modulus, ultimate tensile strength and density of the resulting foams were studied. The process uses a suspo-emulsion in which one phase is volatile blowing agent/particle slurry and the other phase is a heat curable polymer. We found that the initial concentration of each of the components had drastic effects on the stability of the suspo-emulsion and whether or not the suspo-emulsion would phase invert to create polymer particles instead of polymer foam. Also, increasing the amount of blowing agent in a given suspo-emulsion resulted in lower density foam with a larger Young’s modulus and higher ultimate tensile strength. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was the polymer chosen for the systematic study of the process and epoxy resin was also used to demonstrate the versatility of the process. Since the resulting foam is microporous and open-celled and because PDMS is hydrophobic, the produced foam rejects high surface tension liquids like water, but absorbs low surface tension liquids like motor oil. Thus, foams fabricated from different compositions were evaluated for their ability to absorb oil for their potential application in maritime oil spill cleanup operations.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Michael C. Fechtman
