A review of the development of asphalt foaming technology

To comprehensively assess the current state-of-art in asphalt foaming technology, the following four key aspectshave been reviewed systematically: foaming principles, test methods, evaluation indicators, and influencing factors.Key findings reveal that asphalt foaming was primarily driven by the vaporization of water, with deteriorationprocesses including bubble collapse and liquid film drainage. However, the current understanding of asphaltfoaming principles remains limited, primarily due to difficulties in capturing and precisely measuring its microscopic behaviors during asphalt foaming process. Volume changes provided an intuitive means to evaluate theexpansion capacity of asphalt and its foaming stability. Bubble evolution characteristics of foamed asphalt offeredpromising insights into its foaming performance. Traditional ruler and stopwatch-based assessments were beingsuperseded by automated techniques like laser and ultrasonic ranging. Nevertheless, the current measuringequipment still lacks the capability to comprehensively evaluate the foaming effect of asphalt across various dimensions. Asphalt temperature and foaming water consumption significantly affected asphalt foaming performance, and the inclusion of foaming agents typically led to a notable increase in the half life of foamed asphalt.However, the interaction between foaming agents and asphalt, as well as the underlying mechanisms affecting thefoaming effect, are still unclear and require further exploration. Future research should primarily focus on thecorrelation between asphalt foaming effect and mixture performance, aiming to guide the practical engineeringapplication of foamed asphalt mixtures and enlarge the advantages of such low-emission and sustainable mixtures.

Numerical Simulation of the Mechanical Stirring Process in a Tannin-Based Foaming Precursor Resin

Tannin foam is a new functional material.It can be widely applied to the automobile industry,construction industry,and packaging industry due to its wide range of raw materials,renewable,easily degraded,low cost and almost no pollution.Preparing tannin foam is a very complex process that includes high temperature,two phases,mechanical agitation,and phase change.To investigate the influence of the stirring velocity and paddle shape,simulation was calculated by making use of the volume of fluid(VOF)method and multiple reference frame(MRF)method in a three-dimensional flow field of tannin-based foaming precursor resin.The gas holdup and velocity magnitude were analysed with various conditions of mechanical velocities and paddle shape in the stirring flow field.The result shows the higher the velocity,the greater the disturbance and paddle shape between the eggbeater and the Rushton turbine,obviously the paddle shape of the eggbeater with a wider range of agitation,which can entrap more air into the tannin-based foaming precursor resin in a short time.Especially when the speed is 1500 rpm,the flow field of the Rushton turbine comes out of a ditch,which decreases the efficiency of mass transfer;there is less air to mix into the tannin-based foaming precursor resin,which causes unevenness.At the same time,the eggbeater shows the marvelous capability of hybrid as it has two vortexes and multiple cycles that make a difference from the Rushton turbine,which has only one vortex and two upper and lower loops;the structure makes the flow field more stable allowed evenness of flow field tannin-based foaming precursor resin.The results reveal that it is beneficial for tannin-based foaming precursor resin to use an eggbeater with a speed of 1500 rpm to reduce the consumption of resources while obtaining a uniform flow field.

Preparation and characterization of aluminum foams with ZrH_2 as foaming agent

Aluminum foams were fabricated by melt-based route using ZrH2 as a foaming agent. The factors which affected the foaming of aluminum foams during casting process were investigated. The powdered zirconium hydride with content of 0.6%-1.4% （mass fraction） was added to the molten pure aluminum and the foaming condition was controlled in a temperature range from 933 to 1 013 K, Ca amount of 1.5%-3.0% （mass fraction）, stirring time of 0.5-2.5 min and holding time of 1.5-4.0 min to obtain homogeneous aluminum foams. The fabricated aluminum foams were characterized by XRD, SEM and Image-pro plus. The mechanical properties of the aluminum foams with different relative density were tested. The result indicates that the foaming agent （ZrH2） is suitable for the preparation of small aperture aluminum foams with average pore diameter of 1 mm. Inter-metallic compounds and Al2O3 have effect on the melt viscosity. The aluminum foams experience linear elastic, platforms and densification process and had a higher efficiency of energy absorption.

Oxide film on bubble surface of aluminum foams produced by gas injection foaming process

Based on A356 aluminum alloy,aluminum foams were prepared by gas injection foaming process with pure nitrogen,air and some gas mixtures.The oxygen volume fraction of these gas mixtures varied from 0.2%to 8.0%.Optical microscopy,scanning electron microscopy（SEM） and Auger electron spectroscopy（AES） were used to analyze the influence of oxygen content on cell structure,relative density,macro and micro morphology of cell walls,coverage area fraction of oxide film,thickness of oxide film and other aspects.Results indicate that the coverage area fraction of oxide film on bubble surface increases with the increase of oxygen content when the oxygen volume is less than 1.2%.While when the oxygen volume fraction is larger than 1.6%,an oxide film covers the entire bubble surface and aluminum foams with good cell structure can be produced.The thicknesses of oxide films of aluminum foams produced by gas mixtures containing 1.6%-21%oxygen are almost the same.The reasons why the thickness of oxide film nearly does not change with the variation of oxygen content and the amount of oxygen needed to achieve 100%coverage of oxide film are both discussed.In addition,the role of oxide film on bubble surface in foam stability is also analyzed.

Oxidation kinetics of oxide film on bubble surface of aluminum foams produced by gas injection foaming process

In the range of 620？710 °C, air was blown into A356 aluminum alloy melt to produce aluminum foams. In order to study the influence of temperature on the thickness of oxide film on bubble surface, Auger electron spectroscopy （AES） was used. Based on the knowledge of corrosion science and hydrodynamics, two oxidation kinetics models of oxide film on bubble surface were established. The thicknesses of oxide films produced at different temperatures were predicted through those two models. Furthermore, the theoretical values were compared with the experimental values. The results indicate that in the range of 620？710 °C, the theoretical values of the thickness of oxide film predicted by the model including the rising process are higher than the experimental values. While, the theoretical values predicted by the model without the rising process are in good agreement with the experimental values, which shows this model objectively describes the oxidation process of oxide film on bubble surface. This work suggests that the oxidation kinetics of oxide film on bubble surface of aluminum foams produced by gas injection foaming process follows the Arrhenius equation.

Novel foaming agent used in preparation process of aluminum foams

The performances of a novel foaming agent used in the preparation process of aluminum foams were investigated, and the effects of some factors, such as addition of the foaming agent, foaming temperature on the porosity, and appearance of aluminum foams were also discussed. Experimental results show that the novel foaming agent has a wide decomposition temperature range and a mild decomposed rate; the foaming agent has the ability to enhance the viscosity of aluminum melt, as a result, an extra viscosifier such as Ca or SiCp is unnecessary while using this foaming agent; the bubble-free zone in material decreases and the foaming effi- ciency increases with the increase of foaming agent; the bubble-free zone disappears and the foaming efficiency is near 100% when the addition of foaming agent is more than 1.4wt%; the porosity of the aluminum foam increases with the increase of foaming agent when the addition of foaming agent is less than 2.2wt%.

THE STRUCTURE CONTROL OF ALUMINUM FOAMS PRODUCED BY POWDER COMPACTED FOAMING PROCESS

A new technique, powder compact foaming process for the production of aluminumfoams has been studied in this article. According to this method, the aluminum pow-der is mixed with a powder foaming agent (TiH_2). Subsequent to mixing, the powderblend is hot compacted to obtain a dense semi--finished product. Upon heating to tem-peratures within the range of the melting point, the foaming agent decomposes to evolvegas and the semi--finished product expands into a porous cellular aluminum. Foamingprocess is the key in this method. Based on experiments, the foaming characteris-tics were mainly analyzed and discussed. Experiments show that the aluminum--foamwith closed pores and a uniform cell structure of high porosity can be obtained usingthis method by adjusting the foaming parameters: the content of foaming agent andfoaming temperature.

Influence of aluminium nitride as a foaming agent on the preparation of foam glass-ceramics from high-titanium blast furnace slag

To effectively reuse high-titanium blast furnace slag （TS）, foam glass-ceramics were successfully prepared by powder sintering at 1000℃. TS and waste glass were used as the main raw materials, aluminium nitride （AIN） as the foaming agent, and borax as the fluxing agent. The influence of the amount of A1N added （lwt%-5wt%） on the crystalline phases, microstructure, and properties of the produced foam glass-ceramics was studied. The results showed that the main crystal phases were perovskite, diopside, and augite. With increasing A1N content, a transformation from diopside to augite occurred and the crystallinity of the pyroxene phases slightly decreased. Initially, the aver- age pore size and porosity of the foam glass-ceramics increased and subsequently decreased; similarly, their bulk density and compressive strength decreased and subsequently increased. The optimal properties were obtained when the foam glass-ceramics were prepared by adding 4wt% AIN.

Investigation on the foaming behaviors of NC-based gun propellants

To prepare the porous NC-based(nitrocellulose-based) gun propellants,the batch foaming process of using supercritical CO_2 as the physical blowing agent is used.The solubilities of CO_2 in the single-base propellants and TEGDN(trimethyleneglycol dinitrate) propellants are measured by the gravimetric method,and SEM(scanning electron microscope) is used to observe the morphology of foamed propellants.The result shows that a large amount of CO_2 could be dissolved in NC-based propellants.The experimental results also reveal that the energetic plasticizer TEGDN exerts an important influence on the pore structure.The triaxial tensile failure mechanism for solid-state nucleation is used to explain the nucleation of NC-based propellants in the sol id state.Since some specific foaming behaviors of NC-based propellants can not be explained by the failure mechanism,a solid-state nucleation mechanism which revises the triaxial tensile failure mechanism is proposed and discussed.

Enhanced oil recovery by nonionic surfactants considering micellization, surface, and foaming properties

Surfactants for enhanced oil recovery are important to study due to their special characteristics like foam generation,lowering interfacial tension between oleic and aqueous phases,and wettability alteration of reservoir rock surfaces.Foam is a good mobility control agent in enhanced oil recovery for improving the mobility ratio.In the present work,the foaming behavior of three nonionic ethoxylated surfactants,namely Tergitol 15-S-7,Tergitol 15-S-9,and Tergitol 15-S-12,was studied experimentally.Among the surfactants,Tergitol 15-S-12 shows the highest foamability.The effect of Na Cl concentration and synthetic seawater on foaming behavior of the surfactants was investigated by the test-tube shaking method.The critical micelle concentrations of aqueous solutions of the different nonionic surfactants were measured at 300 K.It was found that the critical micelle concentrations of all surfactants also increased with increasing ethylene oxide number.Dynamic light scattering experiments were performed to investigate the micelle sizes of the surfactants at their respective critical micelle concentrations.Core flooding experiments were carried out in sand packs using the surfactant solutions.It was found tha t22% additional oil was recovered in the case of all the surfactants over secondary water flooding.Tergitol 15-S-12exhibited the maximum additional oil recovery which is more than 26%after water injection.

Preparation of Ceramic Foams Suitable for Aircraft Arresting by the Airport Runway Based on a Protein Foaming Agent

Crushable ceramic foams are more suitable to be used as an arrestor material applied in engineered materials arresting system （EMAS） for airport runway for their properties of widely controllable strength, negligible crushing-rebounding behavior, durability, and chemically-inert composition, comparing with traditional concrete foams. The synthesis of ceramic foams adopted direct-foaming method and used an animal protein as foaming agent. Kaolin, talc powder and alumina were the main raw materials. Effects of the ratios of raw materials, calcination temperatures, heating rates, holding time, viscosities of potyvinyl alcohol （PVA） solution as well as the amounts of protein foaming agent and water on microscopic structure, densities, compressive strength and open porosities of ceramic foams were investigated systematically. The results indicate that ceramic foams with typical pore sizes 100-300 μm, open porosities from 73.1% to 91.5%, densities from 0.25 to 0.62 g.cm-3, compressive strength from 0.19 to 4.89 MPa, are obtained by properly adjusting the parameters mentioned above. And the mechanical strength meets the requirement for the EMAS for airport runway. In addition, good correlations are observed among compressive strength, open porosity, microscopic structure, and crystal phase. Furthermore, the possibility of producing the general dimensions of such aircraft arresting components with the proposed method was also discussed.

Effects of foaming parameters on microstructure and compressive properties of aluminum foams produced by powder metallurgy method

Semi open-cell aluminum foams having channels between individual cells were produced using low cost CaCO3foamingagent and applying the powder compact melting process.To this end,the aluminum and CaCO3powder mixtures were coldcompacted into dense cylindrical precursors for foaming at specific temperatures under air atmosphere.The effects of severalparameters including precursor compaction pressure,foaming agent content as well as temperature and time of the foaming processon the cell microstructure,linear expansion,relative density and compressive properties were investigated.A uniform distribution ofcells with sizes less than100μm,which form semi open-cell structures with relative densities in the range of55.4%-84.4%,wasobtained.The elevation of compaction pressure between127-318MPa and blowing agent up to15%(mass fraction)led to anincrease in the linear expansion,compressive strength and densification strain.By varying the foaming temperature from800to1000°C,all of the investigated parameters increased except compressive strength and relative density.The results indicated theoptimal foaming temperature and time as900°C and10-25min,respectively.

Enhancement of room-temperature magnetoresistance in La_(0.5)Sm_(0.2)Sr_(0.3)MnO_3/(Ag_2O)_(x/2)

La0.5Sm0.2Sr0.3MnO3/（Ag2O）x/2 （x = 0.00, 0.04, 0.08, 0.25, 0.30） samples were prepared by the solid-state reaction method, and their transport behaviors, transport mechanism, and magnetoresistance effect were studied through the measurement and fitting of p-T curves. The results show that the element Ag takes part in reaction when the doping amount is small. Ag is mainly distributed at the grain boundary of the host material and is in metallic state when the doping amount is relatively large; then the system becomes a two-phase composite. A small amount of Ag doping can apparently increase grain-boundary magnetoresistance induced by the spin-dependent scattering. The resistivity of the sample doped with 30 mol% Ag is one order of magnitude smaller than that of low-doped samples, and its magnetoresistance in the magnetic field of 0.5 T and at 300 K is strengthened apparently reaching 9.4%, which is connected not only with the improvement of the grain-boundary structure of the host material but also with the decrease of material resistivity.

Microcellular Foaming of Plasticized Thin PC Sheet I.Effects of Processing Conditions

Novel microcellular foams using thin plasticized PC sheet were prepared by compression molding. The measurement results showed that T of plasticized PC was decreased and the molecular chain mobility was increased. Decrease in T and increase in chains mobility were contributed to the widen of foaming temperature window. Effects of processing conditions on cell size, cell density and relative density were also investigated. The experimental results show that the temperature, tributyl citrate and foaming agent content have more effects on the structures and morphology of the plasticized PC microcellular foam. Effects of experimental conditions on cell size distribution have also been discussed.

Red mud and fly ash-based ceramic foams using starch and manganese dioxide as foaming agent

Ceramic foams were prepared using red mud and fly ash as raw materials with sodium borate as sintering aid agent,starchand MnO2as foaming agent,respectively.The influence of the amount of starch or MnO2on the crystalline phase,pore morphologyand physical–chemical porosities was studied.The results showed that the main crystal phases of samples with starch addition andMnO2addition were sodalite phase Na6(AlSiO4)6and Na8(SiAlO4)6MnO4,respectively.The SEM images showed that the variation ofporous structure was mainly dominated by the addition of foaming agent.With the increase of foaming agent,the samples exhibitedbetter comprehensive properties:bulk density of0.59?0.96g/cm3,porosity of41.82%?63.51%,water absorption of3.16%?9.17%,compressive strength of4.22?8.38MPa,flexural strength of2.44?5.82MPa,acid resistance of95.59%?99.60%,alkali resistance of99.82%?99.99%.Based on these properties,the ceramic foams can be used in building field.

Study on Foaming Behaviour of Molten Slag during Smelting Reduction with Iron Bath

The molten slag in smelting reduction with iron bath has peculiar behaviour for its high FeO concentration. Slag foaming is effected by the concentration and reduction rate of FeO, basicity of slag and temperature. Addition of granulated coke can greatly decrease slag foaming extent in the process of smelting reduction with iron bath. The anti-foaming capacity of granulated coke is the best when the ratio of coke used for coke layer to total coke used in smelting reduction is controlled at about 20%.

Room-Temperature Assembled MXene-Based Aerogels for High Mass-Loading Sodium-Ion Storage

Low-temperature assembly of MXene nanosheets into three-dimensional(3D) robust aerogels addresses the crucial stability concern of the nano-building blocks during the fabrication process,which is of key importance for transforming the fascinating properties at the nanoscale into the macroscopic scale for practical applications.Herein,suitable cross-linking agents(amino-propyltriethoxysilane,Mn^(2+),Fe^(2+),Zn^(2+),and Co^(2+)) as interfacial mediators to engineer the interlayer interactions are reported to realize the graphene oxide(GO)-assisted assembly of Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) MXene aerogel at room temperature.This elaborate aerogel construction not only suppresses the oxidation degradation of Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) but also generates porous aerogels with a high Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) content(87 wt%) and robustness,thereby guaranteeing the functional accessibility of Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) nanosheets and operational reliability as integrated functional materials.In combination with a further sulfur modification,the Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) aerogel electrode shows promising electrochemical performances as the freestanding anode for sodium-ion storage.Even at an ultrahigh loading mass of 12.3 mg cm^(-2),a pronounced areal capacity of 1.26 mAh cm^(-2) at a current density of 0.1 A g^(-1) has been achieved,which is of practical significance.This work conceptually suggests a new way to exert the utmost surface functionalities of MXenes in 3D monolithic form and can be an inspiring scaffold to promote the application of MXenes in different areas.

Preparation of Aluminum Foam Sandwich by Rolling-bonding/Powder Metallurgy Foaming Technology

Aluminum foam sandwich was prepared by rolling-bonding/powder metallurgical foaming technology, and the effects of rolling on bond strength of face sheet/powders and powder density were studied. Moreover, the foaming agent, TiH2, was heat treated and a certain amount of Mg was added into powder in an attempt to understand how the stability and uniformity of foam was improved. The experimental results show that the foaming precursors with ideal quality were obtained by rolling-bonding process. When rolling reduction is 67%, the consistency of powders reach to 99.87%. Throughout consideration of the bonding of face sheet/ core layer powders and deformation characteristic of powders, the optimum rolling reduction is 60%-70%. Cracks and drainage during foaming were inhibited by heat treatment of foaming agent TiH2 and the addition of a certain amount of Mg. The optimum heat treatment way of TiH2 is that heat preserving 1 hour at 450 ℃; the amount of adding Mg is 1wt%.

Improvement of Foaming and Emulsifying Properties of Gluten by Conjugation with Fructose through Maillard Reaction

Gluten has poor emulsifying and foaming ability due to its amino acid composition. In this study, Maillard reaction was used to improve the emulsifying and foaming properties of gluten. The processing conditions for the preparation of gluten-fructose conjugates were optimized by using Box-Behnken model to achieve optimum foaming and emulsifying activity, respectively.The results showed that glycated gluten exhibited enhanced emulsifying activity compared to native control. The processing conditions for the preparation of gluten-fructose conjugates with optimum emulsifying activity were as follows: the temperature was 48℃, reaction time was 72 h, and maltose/gluten(W/W) ratio was 125%. Under such condition, the average emulsifying activity was 66.54%, being improved by about 2.5 times compared with that of native control. The Foaming properties of gluten also increased significantly by glycation modification. The optimum conditions of response were as below: the temperature was 48℃, reaction time was 66 h, and maltose/gluten ratio(W/W) was 110%. Under such condition, the average foaming property was 158.57%, and it was three folds higher than that of the control.

Resistivity-Temperature Behavior of CB-Filled HDPE Foaming Composites

High-density polyethylene/carbon black foaming conductive composites were prepared from acetylene black（ACEY） and super conductive carbon black（HG-1P） as conductive filler, low-density polyethylene（LDPE） as the second component, ethylene-vinyl acetate（EVA） and ethylene propylene rubber（EPR） as the third component, azobisformamide（AC） as foamer, and dicumyl peroxide（DCP） as cross-linker. The structure and resistivity-temperature behavior of high-density polyethylene（HDPE）/CB foaming conductive composites were investigated. Influences of carbon black, LDPE, EVA, EPR, AC, and DCP on the foaming performance and resistivity-temperature behavior of HDPE/CB foaming conductive composites were also studied. The results reveal that HDPE/CB foaming conductive composite exhibits better switching characteristic; ACET-filled HDPE foaming conductive composite displays better positive temperature coefficient（PYC） effect; whereas super conductive carbon black（HG-1P）-filled HDPE foaming conductive composite shows better negative temperature coefficient（NTC） effect.