• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.389-398
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• 2014

Macroporous ceramics with tailored pore size and shape could be used for well-established and emerging applications, such as molten metal filtration, biomaterial, catalysis, thermal insulation, hot gas filtration and diesel particulate filters. In these applications, unique properties of porous materials were required which could be achieved through the incorporation of macro-pores into ceramics. In this article, we reviewed the main processing techniques which can be used for the fabrication of macroporous ceramics with tailored microstructure. Partial sintering, replica templates, sacrificial fugutives, and direct foaming techniques was described here and compared in terms of microstructures and mechanical properties that could be achieved. The main focus was given to the direct foaming technique which was simple and versatile approach that allowed the fabrication of macro-porous ceramics with tailored features and properties.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.93-102
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• 2013

Macro porous ceramics possessing controlled microstructures and chemical compositions have increasingly proven useful in the industrial sphere. Their sintered structures have found application in both established and emerging, areas such as thermal insulation in buildings, filtration of liquids and molten materials, refractory insulation, bone scaffolds and tissue engineering. Stable ceramic foams can be formed by wet chemical methods using inorganic particles(e.g., $Al_2O_3$ or $SiO_2$). The wet foams are dried and sintered with improved porosity and mechanical properties. This review examines the different techniques used to prepare porous ceramics from ceramic foams, focusing on the explanation of this versatile method of direct foaming from the past to the present. Comparisons of the processes and the processing parameters are explained with the produced microstructures.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.203-208
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• 2005

The main emphasis of this study is to optimize the process variables for manufacturing aluminum foam materials by direct foaming of remelted aluminum scraps. Aluminum foams were fabricated from two different raw materials, pure aluminum and used beverage cans. For both cases, $TiH_{2}$ was used as a foaming agent. Calcium was added as a thickener for the foaming of pure aluminum and no thickener was added for that of used beverage Cans because the pre-existing oxides of the used beverage cans are used as a thickener. Calcium and $TiH_{2}$ content varies from 0.5wt.% to 2.0wt.% and from 0.5wt.% to 1.5wt.%, respectively. The processing conditions, such as the effect of calcium on the melt viscosity, foaming temperature, and the optimum amount of the foaming agent with regard to the melt viscosity were discussed.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.174-177
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• 2010

We have developed an environment-friendly etching process, an alternative to the dichromic acid etching process, as a pretreatment of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plastic for electroless plating. In order to plate ABS plastic in an electroless way, there should be fine holes on the surface of the ABS plastic to enhance mechanically the adhesion strength between the plastic surface and the plate. To make these holes, the surface was coated uniformly with dispersed chemical foaming agents in a mixture of environmentally friendly dispersant and solvent by the methods of dipping or direct application. The solvent seeps into just below the surface and distributes the chemical foaming agents uniformly beneath the surface. After drying off the surface, the surface was heated at a temperature well below the glass transition temperature of ABS plastic. By pyrolysis, the chemical foaming agents made fine holes on the surface. In order to discover optimum conditions for the formation of fine holes, the mixing ratio of the solvent, the dispersant and the chemical foaming agent were controlled. After the etching process, the surface was plated with nickel. We tested the adhesion strength between the ABS plastic and nickel plate by the cross-cutting method. The surface morphologies of the ABS plastic before and after the etching process were observed by means of a scanning electron microscope.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.79-84
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• 2008

Metal foam is one of the most interesting materials with various multi-functional properties such as light weight, energy absorption, high stiffness and damping capability. Among them, energy absorption property has keen interests in the field of automotives for passenger protection. Nowadays, researches about pore size and porosity control of the foam are increased to correspond them. However, though energy absorption properties are improved, these results are not cost-effective process. In present research, however, as a part of improving the energy absorption property of metallic foams, 606X aluminum alloy was used for cell wall material which has higher strength than pure aluminum. And its morphological features are characterized. As a results, porosity and pore size are uniformity distribution with increasing foaming temperature in the case of 6061 alloy foams. 6063 alloy foam specimens have opposite tendency because of the influence of alloying element and viscosity of the molten melt.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.278-284
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• 2012

$Al_2O_3$ foam is an important engineering material because of its exceptional high-temperature stability, low thermal conductivity, good wear resistance, and stability in hostile chemical environment. In this work, $Al_2O_3$ foams were designed to control the microstructure, porosity, and cell size by varying different parameters such as the amount of amphiphile, solid loading, and stirring speed. Particle stabilized direct foaming technique was used and the $Al_2O_3$ particles were partially hydrophobized upon the adsorption of valeric acid on particles surface. The foam stability was drastically improved when these particles were irreversibly adsorbed at the air/water interface. However, there is still considerable ambiguity with regard to the effect of process parameters on the microstructure of particle-stabilized foam. In this study, the $Al_2O_3$ foam with open and closed-cell structure, cell size ranging from $20{\mu}m$ to $300{\mu}m$ having single strut wall and porosity from 75% to 93% were successfully fabricated by sintering at $1600^{\circ}C$ for 2 h in air.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.513-520
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• 2019

This study reports the improvement of mechanical properties of Al₂O₃ porous ceramics from colloidal suspension with the addition of carbon fiber by direct foaming. The initial colloidal suspension of Al₂O₃ was partially hydrophobized by surfactant to stabilize wet foam with the addition of carbon fiber from 2 to 8 wt% as stabilizer. The influence of carbon fiber on the air content, bubble size, pore size and pore distribution in terms of wet foam stability and physical properties of porous ceramics were discussed. The viscosity of the colloidal suspension was increased giving solid like properties with the increased in carbon fiber content. The mechanical properties of the sintered porous samples were investigated by Hertzian indentation test. The results show the wet foam stability of more than 90% corresponds to compressive loading of 156.48 N and elastic modulus of 57.44 MPa of sintered sample with 8 wt% of carbon fiber content.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.604-609
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• 2016

This study reports on wet-foam stability with respect to porous ceramics from a particle-stabilized colloidal suspension that is achieved through the addition of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) using a wet process. To stabilize the wet foam, an initial colloidal suspension of $Al_2O_3$ was partially hydrophobized by the surfactant propyl gallate (2 wt.%) and $SiO_2$ was added as a stabilizer. The influence of the PMMA content on the bubble size, pore size, and pore distribution in terms of the contact angle, surface tension, adsorption free energy, and Laplace pressure are described in this paper. The results show a wet-foam stability of more than 83%, which corresponds to a particle free energy of $2.7{\times}10^{-12}J$ and a pressure difference of 61.1 mPa for colloidal particles with 20 wt.% of PMMA beads. It was possible to control the uniform distribution of the open/closed pores by increasing the PMMA content and by adding thick struts, leading to the achievement of a higher-stability wet foam for use in porous ceramics.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.211-232
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• 2019

Porous ceramics are promising materials for a number of functional and structural applications that include thermal insulation, filters, bio-scaffolds for tissue engineering, and preforms for composite fabrication. These applications take advantage of the special characteristics of porous ceramics, such as low thermal mass, low thermal conductivity, high surface area, controlled permeability, and low density. In this review, we emphasize the direct foaming method, a simple and versatile approach that allows the fabrication of porous ceramics with tailored microstructure, along with distinctive properties. The wet foam stability is achieved under the controlled addition of amphiphiles to the colloidal suspension, which induce in situ hydrophobization, allowing the wet foam to resist coarsening and Ostwald ripening upon drying and sintering. Different components, like contact angle, adsorption free energy, air content, bubble size, and Laplace pressure, play vital roles in the stabilization of the particle stabilized wet foam to the porous ceramics. The mechanical behavior of the load-displacements curves of sintered samples was investigated using Herzian indentations testes. From the collected results, we found that microporous structures with pore sizes from 30 ㎛ to 570 ㎛ and the porosity within the range from 70% to 85%.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.463-466
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• 2011

Wet foams formed through direct foaming were stabilized using various concentrations of amiphiphilic particles that could control pore size and porosity. These porous materials showed moderate strength upon compression with high porosity. Bubble size and wet foam stability were tailored by amphiphile concentration, particle concentration, contact angle, and pH of the suspension to obtain crack-free porous solid after sintering. Closed and open pores were obtained with sizes of 30~300 ${\mu}m$ and porosities of over 80%.