Preparation of Bio-Based Foams with a Uniform Pore Structure by Nanocellulose/Nisin/Waterborne-Polyurethane-Stabilized Pickering Emulsion

Abstract

Bio-based porous materials can reduce energy consumption and environmental impact, and they have a possible application as packaging materials. In this study, a bio-based porous foam was prepared by using a Pickering emulsion as a template. Nisin and waterborne polyurethane (WPU) were used for physical modification of 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl piperidine-1-oxyl-oxidized cellulose nanocrystals (TOCNC). The obtained composite particles were applied as stabilizers for acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) Pickering emulsion. The stability of the emulsion was characterized by determination of the rheological properties and microscopic morphology of the emulsion. The emulsion stabilized by composite particles showed better stability compared to case when TOCNC were used. The porous foam was obtained by heating a composite-particles-stabilized Pickering emulsion at 90 °C for 2 h. SEM (scanning electron microscopy) images showed that the prepared foam had uniformly distributed pores. In addition, the thermal conductivity of the foam was 0.33 W/m·k, which was a significant decrease compared to the 3.92 W/m·k of the TOCNC foam. The introduction of nisin and WPU can reduce the thermal conductivity of the foam, and the physically modified, TOCNC-stabilized Pickering emulsion provides an effective means to preparing bio-based porous materials.

Optimizing the Compressive Properties of Porous Aluminum Composites by Varying Diamond Content, Space Holder Size and Content

“…The spherical structured cells (pores) and uniform distribution of the cell walls were obtained by adding the space holder particles of varying size, as evident from Figure 4. Due to uniform pore distribution in the porous structure, the strength of porous Al composite improved [34,35].…”

“…The spherical structured cells (pores) and uniform distribution of the cell walls were obtained by adding the space holder particles of varying size, as evident from Figure 4. Due to uniform pore distribution in the porous structure, the strength of porous Al composite improved [34,35]. Table 3 shows that the composites with PMMA particle size of 150 µm exhibited higher plateau stress values than composites with smaller particle sizes (75 µm and 130 µm).…”