Production of high-quality glass foam from soda lime glass waste using SiC-AlN foaming agent

Abstract

This research presents the possibility of producing durable foam glasses from glass cullet using SiC/AlN foaming agent. The foaming agent generated by the SiC and AlN couple results in a more homogeneous microstructure and thus the emergence of foam glasses with better properties compared to the nitride foaming agent used alone in our previous work. The fabricated foam had a crack-free, 3-D cellular structure with macropores whose geometries varied between elliptical-, pentagonal-, and hexagonal-shaped constructions. It also had a lightweight (≥ 0.18 g/cm3), high cold crushing strength (≤ 4.5 MPa), low thermal conductivity (0.09–0.16 W/m K), and contained more than ~ 89 vol.% gas bubbles enclosed between 11 vol.% impervious glass walls. The properties accomplished by the foam prepared in this work conform with the requirements of international standard for commercial glass foams, demonstrating its strong capability to be utilized in potential applications in sustainable buildings and energy efficiency in industry.