Abstract
With the ever-increasing development in science and technology, as well as social awareness, more requirements are imposed on the production and property of all materials, especially polymeric foams. In particular, rubber foams, compared to thermoplastic foams in general, have higher flexibility, resistance to abrasion, energy absorption capabilities, strength-to-weight ratio and tensile strength leading to their widespread use in several applications such as thermal insulation, energy absorption, pressure sensors, absorbents, etc. To control the rubber foams microstructure leading to excellent physical and mechanical properties, two types of parameters play important roles. The first category is related to formulation including the rubber (type and grade), as well as the type and content of accelerators, fillers, and foaming agents. The second category is associated to processing parameters such as the processing method (injection, extrusion, compression, etc.), as well as different conditions related to foaming (temperature, pressure and number of stage) and curing (temperature, time and precuring time). This review presents the different parameters involved and discusses their effect on the morphological, physical, and mechanical properties of rubber foams. Although several studies have been published on rubber foams, very few papers reviewed the subject and compared the results available. In this review, the most recent works on rubber foams have been collected to provide a general overview on different types of rubber foams from their preparation to their final application. Detailed information on formulation, curing and foaming chemistry, production methods, morphology, properties, and applications is presented and discussed.
Highlights
Cellular materials, commonly known as foams, both are widely used by man and appear in nature to reduce the weight of materials while increasing their strength [1]
The rubber foaming process can be decomposed into three steps: creating small discontinuities or cells in a fluid or polymer phase, allowing these cells to grow to a desired volume and stabilizing this cellular structure by physical or chemical means
The structure of polymer foams can be divided into open cell or closed cell groups with pores in the range of millimeter to nanometer depending on the processing method, formulation and foaming conditions form their synthesis
Summary
Commonly known as foams, both are widely used by man and appear in nature to reduce the weight of materials while increasing their strength [1]. [2], so the production of synthetic cellular materials was devoted to mimic nature leading to the development of one of the most important and widely used man-made class of materials with a wide range of applications in automobiles, aeronautics, packaging, medicine, construction, etc. Polymeric foams have drawn a great deal of interest because of their good strength, high surface area, low weight and excellent energy damping properties performance, as well as good electrical, thermal and acoustic insulation combined with impact mitigation and cost reduction compared to other conventional foams [18,19]. It is easier to control their structure and properties [20]
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