• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.275-281
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• 2011

Solar reforming of methane with $CO_2$ was successfully tested with a direct irradiated absorber on a parabolic dish capable of $5kW_{th}$ solar power. The new type of catalytically activated metallic foam absorber was prepared, and its activity was tested. Ni was applied as the active metal on the gamma - alumina coated Ni metal foam for the preparation of the catalytically-activated metal foam layer. Compared to conventional direct irradiation of the catalytically-activated ceramic foam absorber, this new metallic foam absorber is found to exhibit a superior reaction performance at the relatively low insolation or at low temperatures. In addition, unlike direct irradiation of the catalytically-activated ceramic foam absorber, metallic foam absorber has better thermal resistance, which prevents the emergence of cracks caused by mechanical or thermal shock. The total solar power absorbed reached up to 2.1kW and the maximum $CH_4$ conversion was almost 40%.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.7-13
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• 2020

In this study, water glass was applied as a coating material to a rigid polyurethane foam to improve the flame-retardant properties of the foam. The heat release rate of the cone calorimeter of the urethane foam, in which the inorganic water-glass coating layer was applied, decreased rapidly. The water glass coated on the polyurethane surface formed a glassy foam by foaming with water, which did not escape during the vitrification reaction when the foam or glass was heated. The glassy foam formed on the polyurethane foam became a fire-resistant insulation layer that inhibited the combustion of the polyurethane foam for more than 10 min. Water glass was found to improve the flame-retardant properties of the rigid polyurethane foam.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.21-30
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• 2015

Ceramic foams are prepared as positive images corresponding to a plastic foam structure which exhibits high porosities (85-90%). This structure makes the ceramic foams attractive as a catalyst in a dry reforming process, because it could reduce a high pressure drop problem. This problem causes low mass and heat transfers in the process. Furthermore, the reactants would shortly contact to catalyst surface, thus low conversion could occur. Therefore, this research addressed the preparation of dry reforming catalysts using a sol-gel catalyst preparation via a polymeric sponge method. The specific objectives of this work are to investigate the effects of polymer foam structure (such as porosity, pore sizes, and cell characteristics) on a catalyst performance and to observe the influences of catalyst preparation parameters to yield a replica of the original structure of polymeric foam. To accomplish these objectives industrial waste foams, polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) foams, were used as a polymeric template. Results indicated that the porosity of the polyurethane and polyvinyl alcohol foams were about 99% and 97%. Their average cell sizes were approximate 200 and 50 micrometres, respectively. The cell characteristics of polymer foams exhibited the character of a high permeability material that can be able to dip with ceramic slurry, which was synthesized with various viscosities, during a catalyst preparation step. Next, morphology of ceramic foams was explored using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and catalyst properties, such as; temperature profile of catalyst reduction, metal dispersion, and surface area, were also characterized by $H_2-TPR$ and $H_2-TPD$ techniques, and BET, respectively. From the results, it was found that metal-particle dispersion was relatively high about 5.89%, whereas the surface area of ceramic foam catalysts was $64.52m^2/g$. Finally, the catalytic behaviour toward hydrogen production through the dry reforming of methane using a fixed-bed reactor was evaluated under certain operating conditions. The approaches from this research provide a direction for further improvement of marketable environmental friendly catalyst production.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.40 no.7
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• pp.625-631
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• 2003

Recent work at USC has focused on strategies to enhance the toughness and overall mechanical performance of polymer foams for use in lightweight sandwich structures. Both mechanical and chemical approaches have been employed with reasonable success. Fiber reinforcement, though difficult from a processing perspective, can lead to substantial enhancements in toughness and strength, while reducing friability. Chemical modifications are also challenging from a processing perspective, but can produce similar enhancements in performance. Efforts to enhance performance of phenolic foam and PVC foam through fiber reinforcement and chemical modification are described, along with the resulting enhancements in performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Ceranic Society Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.155.2-155
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.218-218
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• 2005

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.427-431
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• 2012

The $TiO_2$ foam synthesized using freeze-casting is a promising photocatalyst and photovoltaic electrode for a variety of energy applications, because the freeze-casting technique is easy to use, cheap, and suitable for mass-production. Despite its several advantages, little scientific information is available on the processing and morphology of the $TiO_2$ foams processed by freeze-casting. In particular, no systematic study has been performed on the microstructural evolution and morphological change of the rutile-phase $TiO_2$ foams during sintering. Therefore, in the present study, several $TiO_2$ foam samples were produced using the freeze-casting technique, which were then sintered at a relatively high temperature of $1200^{\circ}C$ for 1, 2, and 4 h to compare the morphological changes in the microstructure and to understand the effects of processing parameters of the rutile-phase $TiO_2$ foams. The foam ligament size increased near linearly with increasing sintering time whereas the average pore size decreased only slightly with increasing sintering time, with changes in particle morphology from sphere to rod and complete phase transformation from anatase to rutile.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.368-373
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• 2008

An electrode for supercapacitor using 3-dimensional porous nickel foam as a current collector and cobalt oxide as an active material was prepared and characterized in terms of morphology observation, crystalline property analysis, and the investigation of electrochemical property. The electrode surface showed that the cobalt oxide was homogeneously coated as the crystalline phase of $Co_3O_4$. Cyclic voltammetry for the $Co_3O_4$/nickel foam electrode exhibited higher specific capacitance values (445 F/g at 10 mV/s and 350 F/g at 200 mV/s) and excellent capacitance retention ratio (99% after $10^4$ cycles). It was proved that the nickel foam substrate played the roles in reducing the interfacial resistance with cobalt oxide and in improving the electrode density by embedding greater amount of cobalt oxide within it.

• 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.