Effect of post-added water amount on pre-concentrated bark foaming materials by mechanical stirring

Abstract

In this study, pre-concentrated bark, furfuryl alcohol and other biomass raw materials were used to prepare foaming materials by high-speed mechanical stirring without using a foaming agent. We investigated the effect of the post-added water amount on the properties of foaming materials. In particular, we determined basic physical properties of these materials, including the limiting oxygen index (LOI), porosity, thermal conductivity, thermogravimetric analysis, pore size distribution, and microstructure. The results of scanning electron micro-scopy (SEM) indicated that the pore size distribution was uniform and the pore size increased with increasing water volume. Thermogravimetric analysis (TG/ DTG) showed that when the temperature reached 410°C, the foam was easily decomposed, the final residual mass was only 2.8%, and water addition had little effect on it. Moreover, the amount of post-added water is 5–30 g, the density and compression strength of the foamed materials gradually decreased, while the degree of pulverization increased. LOI ranged from 26.1% to 30.79%, and porosity ranged from 81% to 83%. The change in water volume greatly affected the foam’s performance, the performance of foamed material deteriorated as the amount of added water increased, but the effect on thermal conductivity was not very obvious. The highest thermal conductivity was only 0.0179 W/(m·K), still providing excellent thermal insulation.