This article discusses the creation and characterization of albumin based rigid and elastic foams. These foams were created using formaldehyde as the hardener for the protein, while camphor was used as the plasticizer. Crosslinking was carried out using a traditional or microwave oven. Samples differed in the amount of water, formaldehyde, and camphor added, and in the amount of time that they spent in the oven. The thermal conductivity was ...
Author(s): Alain Celzard, Antonio Pizzi, C. Segovia, M. Cangemi, P. Navarrete, V. Fierro, X. Li
A variety of tannin-formaldehyde aerogels were produced in order to examine the effects of pH and dilution during their manufacture. The authors produced a phase diagram that could describe them. Extensive physical property characterization was performed on the sample aerogels, including porosity, thermal conductivity, volume shrinkage, BET surface area and microscopic texture. Conditions under which the highest surface area and pore volumes were produced were identified. The TPS instrument was ...
Author(s): Alain Celzard, Andrzej Szczurek, Antonio Pizzi, Gisele Amaral-Labat, Vanessa Fierro
The purpose of this study was to produce an environmentally friendly foam using tannins, that did not contain any formaldehyde or blowing agents. Two experimental tannin foams were compared to two conventional foams, one containing both formaldehyde and blowing agents, and the other containing only a blowing agent. A variety of physical properties were assessed to determine if the new green formulation would be an appropriate replacement, this included thermal ...
Author(s): Alain Celzard, Antonio Pizzi, M. C. Basso, S. Giovando, V. Fierro
Aerogels are ultra-light, insulative, porous materials that have a wide variety of applications. The aim of this study was to synthesize resorcinol/formaldehyde (RF) cross-linked silica aerogels in one pot by acid catalysis. A thermal constant analyzer measured the thermal conductivity of the RF/SiO2 aerogels using the transient plane source (TPS) method. Results showed that although the RF/SiO2 aerogels had a lower density, their thermal conductivities resembled those ...
Author(s): Ai Du, Bin Zhou, Guangming Wu, Jun Shen, Ke Chen, Xiurong Zhu, Zhihao Bao, Zhihua Zhang
Seasonal thermal storage based on phase change materials (PCMs) require a thermally conductive host because they typically have low thermal conductivities. In this study, tannin-based composite carbon foams were prepared using thermally conductive exfoliated graphite (EG) fillers and pMDI additives. A thermal analyzer measured the thermal conductivity of the samples using the transient plane source (TPS) method. Results showed that the EG-carbon foams and the EG/pDMI-carbon foams showed significantly ...
Author(s): Alain Celzard, Antonio Pizzi, P. Jana, V. Fierro