Foam-templated macroporous polymers

Foam templates were produced by rapid gas dispersion into an aqueous monomer solution at various dispersion concentrations. Then, the templates were cured through free radical polymerization to obtain polydispersed solid foams. The foams were analyzed for their stability by measuring coarsening rates and drainage times to quantify and compare the effect of gas dispersion concentration. The foams exhibited yield stress with pseudoplastic behavior, so their flow curve was fitted using Herschel-Bulkley model to calculate the required foaming energy. The benefits of using a gas dispersion phase instead of a liquid phase is an increase in starting material efficiency and eliminating typical removal step of the disperse phase in foam-templating compared to emulsion-templating. We investigated the morphological characteristics and mechanical properties of obtained porous polymers from foam- and emulsion-templating methods.