Foams materials used

Styrene (phenylethylene or vinyl benzene, C6H5-CH=CH2) is made from ethylene by reaction with benzene to form ethylbenzene, followed by dehydrogenation. Over 50 percent of manufactured styrene is polymerized to polystyrene for toys, cups, containers, and foamed materials used for insulation and packing. The rest is used to make styrene copolymers, such as styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR). 

Foamed starch Starch can be blown by environmentally-friendly means into a foamed material using water steam. Foamed starch is antistatic, insulating and shock absorbing, therefore constituting a good replacement for polystyrene foam. 

HBF are for low-density foam materials used in speaker grills and sound-deadening materials and the last three ratings, VTM-0, VTM-1 and VTM-2, are assigned to very thin films. 

Textile uses are a relatively stable area and consist of the lamination of polyester foams to textile products, usually by flame lamination or electronic heat sealing techniques. Flexible or semirigid foams are used in engineered packaging in the form of special slab material. Flexible foams are also used to make filters (reticulated foam), sponges, scmbbers, fabric softener carriers, squeegees, paint appHcators, and directly appHed foam carpet backing. 

Other fibrous and porous materials used for sound-absorbing treatments include wood, cellulose, and metal fibers foamed gypsum or Pordand cement combined with other materials and sintered metals. Wood fibers can be combined with binders and dame-retardent chemicals. Metal fibers and sintered metals can be manufactured with finely controlled physical properties. They usually are made for appHcations involving severe chemical or physical environments, although some sintered metal materials have found their way into architectural appHcations. Prior to concerns regarding its carcinogenic properties, asbestos fiber had been used extensively in spray-on acoustical treatments. 

Silicone foam thus formed has an open ceU stmcture and is a relatively poor insulating material. Cell size can be controlled by the selection of fillers, which serve as bubble nucleating sites. The addition of quartz as a filler gready improves the flame retardancy of the foam char yields of >65% can be achieved. Because of its excellent dammabiUty characteristics, siUcone foam is used in building and constmction fire-stop systems and as pipe insulation in power plants. Typical physical properties of siUcone foam are Hsted in Table 10. 

Foams. Sulfur can be foamed into a lightweight insulation that compares favorably with many organic foams and other insulating materials used in constmction. It has been evaluated as thermal insulation for highways and other appHcations to prevent frost damage (63) (see Eoamed plastics Insulation, thermal). 

Glass-reinforced grades have widely replaced metals in pumps and other functional parts in washing equipment and central heating systems. In the manufacture of business machine and computer housings structural foam materials have found some use. Mouldings weighing as much as 50 kg have been reported. 

There has also been particular interest in a rigid foam material for use in aerospace, shipbuilding and medical appliances. 

Whilst initial development was primarily in the fields of fibres and rubbers, the presence of polyurethanes at about sixth position in the production league tables is largely due to the widespread use of foam materials. By 1980 global consumption was of the order of 3 X 10 tonnes per annum. 

For materials of equivalent density water-blown polyurethanes and the hydrocarbon-blown polystyrene foams have similar thermal conductivities. This is because the controlling factor determining the conductivity is the nature of the gas present in the cavities. In both of the above cases air, to all intents and purposes, normally replaces any residual blowing gas either during manufacture or soon after. Polyurethane foams produced using fluorocarbons have a lower thermal conductivity (0.12-0.15 Btu in fr h °F ) (0.017-0.022 W/mK) because of the lower conductivity of the gas. The comparative thermal conductivities for air, carbon dioxide and monofluorotrichloromethane are given in Table 27.3. 

Foam density is largely a function of the concentration of blowing agents. There has been a strong development towards the use of less expanded, i.e. higher density rigid cellular polyurethanes. This includes not only the so-called structural foams for simulated wood but also unexpanded solid materials used for brush handles and gun stocks. This range is clearly indicated in Table 27.4. ... 

In the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute s three-man 1,800 m (6,000 ft.) depth vehicles, approximately 5,000 lb. of syntactic foam were used to provide buoyancy. With a specific gravity of 0.68, it required three pounds of material to gain one pound of... 

Arcus gasification combuster is described and the principles upon which it works are explained. This combuster combines solid fuel gasification with the burning of the lean gases produced on a small capacity scale. The types of solid fuels which can be used are listed and these include segregated municipal waste and industrial waste such as rigid PU foam and plastics mixed with other materials. Uses of the gas produced are included. 

Successful development of such systems will lead to foamed materials having useful stress-absorbing characteristics in addition to controlled physics properties. Although our work in this area is currently in a very early stage, prototype materials have been successfully synthesized and assessed structurally using three-dimensional (3D) X-ray microtomography. The technique offers a unique insight into the internal microstructure of cellular materials (see Fig. 3). The diameter of the mainly open cell pores varies from approximately 100 to 250 pm (the resolution of the instrument is 5 pm), with cell walls of variable thickness. 

Foam Concentrate - Fire suppression surfactant material used to seal the vapors from the surface of a combustible liquid. 

---