• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.511-515
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• 2014

The thermodynamic instability of bubbles in wet-foam colloidal suspension is due to the substantial area of their gas/liquid interface. Several physical processes lead to gas diffusion from smaller to larger bubbles, resulting in a coarsening and Ostwald ripening of wet foam. This includes a narrowing of the bubble size distribution. The distribution and microstructure of porous ceramics, the adsorption free energy and Laplace pressure of $Al_2O_3$ particle-stabilized colloidal suspension, and $SiO_2$ content were investigated for tailoring the bubble size. Wet-foam stability of more than 80% is related to the degree of hydrophobicity with contact angles of $62-70^{\circ}$ achieved from the surfactant. The contact angle replaces part of the highly energetic interface and lowers the free energy of the system. This leads to an apparent increase in the surface tension (26-33 mN/m) of the colloidal suspension.

• 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.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.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.52 no.6
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• pp.455-461
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• 2015

Porous ceramics with tailored pore size and shape are promising materials for the realization of a number of functional and structural properties. A novel method has been reported for the investigation of the role of SiC in the formation of $SiO_2$ foams by colloidal wet processing. Within a suitable pH range of 9.9 ~ 10.5 $SiO_2$, particles were partially hydrophobized using hexylamine as an amphiphile. Different mole ratios of the SiC solution were added to the surface modified $SiO_2$ suspension. The contact angle was found to be around $73^{\circ}$, with an adsorption free energy $6.8{\times}10^{-12}J$. The Laplace pressure of about 1.25 ~ 1.6 mPa was found to correspond to a wet foam stability of about 80 ~ 85%. The mechanical and thermal properties were analyzed for the sintered ceramics, with the highest compressive load observed at the mole ratio of 1:1.75. Hertzian indentations are used to evaluate the damage behavior under constrained loading conditions of $SiO_2$-SiC porous ceramics.

• 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%.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.129-134
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• 2011

Herein, macroporous carbon materials were readily prepared by carbonization of cured body of resorcinol and formaldehyde using poly(methyl methacrylate) colloid microspheres which were employed as the template in the gelation of resorcinol with formaldehyde. The gel in the water was solvent exchanged with methanol and the wet gel was dried. After carbonization of the template-gel composite at $800^{\circ}C$, it was found that pores were left corresponding to the size of the template, yielding carbon materials with a fine porous structure with enlarged surface area and significant porosity. Properties of the carbon foams including the structure, morphology, thermal stability, and porosity were investigated. Finally, it was concluded that the method using polymer colloids as the template provided a facile route to prepare carbon foams.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.232-239
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• 2011

Fabric fibrous filter has been used in various industrial applications owing to the low cost and wide generality. However, the basic properties of fabric materials often limit the practical utilization including hot gas cleaning. This study attempts to find new coatings of porous fibrous filter media in order to overcome its insufficient thermal resistance and durability. Teflon was one of the plausible chemicals to supplement the vulnerability against frequent external thermal impacts. A foaming agent composed of Teflon and some organic additives was tentatively coated on the glass fiber mat. The present test Teflon foam coated filter was fount to be useful for hot gas cleaning, up to $250^{\circ}C$-$300^{\circ}C$. Close examination using XPS(X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) and Contact angle proved the binding interactions between carbon and fluorine, which implies coating stability. The PTFE/Glass foam coated filter consisted of more than 95% (C-F)n bond, and showed super-hydrophobic with good-oleophobic characteristics. The contact angle of liquid droplets on the filter surface enabled to find the filter wet-ability against liquid water or oil.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2010

Cold in-place recycling (CIR) using emulsified asphalt or foamed asphalt has become a more common practice in rehabilitating the existing asphalt pavement due to its cost effectiveness and the conservation of paving materials. As CIR continues to evolve, the engineered emulsified asphalt was developed to improve the field performances such as coating, raveling, retained stability value and curing time. The main objective of this research is to compare the laboratory responses of the engineered emulsified asphalt (CIR-EE) mixtures against the foamed asphalt (CIR-foam) mixtures using the reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP)materials collected from the CIR project on U.S. 20 Highway in Iowa. Based on the visual observation of laboratory specimens, the engineered emulsified asphalt coated the RAP materials better than the foamed asphalt because the foamed asphalt is to create a mastic mixture structure rather than coating RAP materials. Given the same compaction effort, CIR-EE specimens exhibited lesser density than CIR-foam specimens. Both Marshall stability and indirect tensile strength of CIR-EE specimens were about same as those of CIR-foam specimens. However, Marshall stability and indirect tensile strength of the vacuum-saturated wet specimens of CIR-EE mixtures were higher than those of CIR-foam mixtures. After four hours of curing in the room temperature, the CIR-EE specimens showed less raveling than the CIR-foam specimens. On the basis of test results, it can be concluded that the CIR-EE mixtures is less susceptible to moisture and more raveling resistant than CIR-foam mixtures.

• 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.