Polymeric tannin/furanic foams fortified with polyurethane (PUR) and 4,4’ diphenylmethane diisocyanate (pMDI) were prepared. The thermo-physical and mechanical properties of the produced foams were investigated experimentally. It was found that since there were a number of active isocyanate groups on the PUR that was used, there was no difference in adding PUR or pMDI to the foams, and so only the results for pMDI were presented. It was found that ...
Poly(methyl methacrylate)-silica nanocomposite (PSN) foams were formulated for the comparison of the effect of vinyl-modified silica (VMS) and raw silica (RS) particles on cell structure, insulation properties, and insulation properties. It was found that those thermoplastic foams containing VMS particles had improved dispersion capability than those containing RS particles. The incorporation of VMS particles was found to reduce the cell size and increase the cell density of the ...
Finite element and molecular dynamics models were used to study the effect of pore size and porosity on the thermal conductivity of polymeric foams. These models were then verified by measurements made using the transient plane source technique. It was determined that the pore size has a significant effect on the thermal conductivity of these foams, and that when the pore size decreases to the nanometer scale, the thermal conductivity ...
Polystyrene/multi-walled carbon nanotube (PS/MWCNT) nanocomposite foams were prepared in order to determine if these foams exhibited a reduced thermal conductivity in comparison to pristine polystyrene foam. The thermal conductivity of foams can be broken down into three modes of conduction: gas conductivity, solid conductivity, and radiative conductivity. The PS/MWCNT foams had decreased gas and radiative conductivities in comparison to the pristine PS foam; however, the solid conductivity ...
