Fabrication of Small Pore-Size Nickel Foams Using Electroless Plating of Solid-State Foamed Immiscible Polymer Blends

Abstract

A novel fabrication process of small pore-size nickel foams has been developed using eiectroiess plating of solid-state foamed immiscible polymer blends. Ethylene acrylic acid (EAA) and polystyrene (PS) were melt-blended with extrusion to obtain a dual phase cocontinuous morphology. Gas saturation and foaming studies were performed to determine appropriate process conditions for foaming ofthe two-phase material. Open-celled polymer templates were obtained by extracting the PS phase with dichloromethane (DCM). The templates were subsequently used for nickel foam plating in ethanol-based eiectroiess plating solutions. Nickel foams with pore sizes on the level of tens of micrometers and porosity above 90% were fabricated. It was found that gas concentration and foaming temperature were major process variables significantly affecting the foam porosity. Foaming allowed faster PS extraction and higher porosity of the nickel plating templates. Because of the small pore size, ethanol-based solutions need to be used to ensure the infiltration of plating solutions. The developed process is a bulk method and can be used for large-scale fabrication of small pore-size nickel foams with high porosity.

Scalable synthesis of gyroid-inspired freestanding three-dimensional graphene architectures

“…In order to form Ni scaffolds (bi-Ni), the PEGDA template is activated in a palladium chloride solution overnight, rinsed in ethanol, and then undergoes electroless Ni (EN) deposition in a 20 mM Ni chloride plating solution. 56 We incorporated dilute alcohol 57 and ultrasonication, 58 which has been found to be necessary to fully disperse the Ni plating solution throughout the activated templates to avoid a hollow Ni scaffold. 59 PEGDA is pyrolized by heating the sample at 300 °C and subsequently at 500 °C in air for 4 hours for each step.…”

Convective Transport Characteristics of Nanofluids in Light- Weight Metal Foams with High Porosity

“…Tian and Zhao [86] performed similar experiments with copper foams. With the advancement of fabrication techniques for microcellular metal foams [87], the effect of pore size and porosity becomes more interesting due to the extremely large surface area enabled by metal foams with small pore size. Numerical models were also developed to predict the temperature profile of PCM metal foam systems.…”

Efficient Design-Optimization of Variable-Density Hexagonal Cellular Structure by Additive Manufacturing: Theory and Validation

“…Both of them have been widely used in industry and can be manufactured in many ways, e.g., vapor deposition, foaming, casting, and sintering [3,[27][28][29]. Although these conventional manufacturing methods still play a dominant role in contemporary cellular structures production, they encounter difficulties with complex cell geometry or varying-density in order to attain best mechanical performance.…”