Foam
Encyclopedia
Definition
A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping gas in a liquidLiquid
Liquid is one of the three classical states of matter . Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container. Some liquids resist compression, while others can be compressed. Unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, and maintains a fairly...
or solid
Solid
Solid is one of the three classical states of matter . It is characterized by structural rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume. Unlike a liquid, a solid object does not flow to take on the shape of its container, nor does it expand to fill the entire volume available to it like a...
in a divided form, i.e. by forming gas regions inside liquid regions, leading to different kinds of dispersed media
Dispersed media
A dispersed medium consists of two media that do not mix. More specifically, it contains discrete elements of one medium which are dispersed in a continuous second medium. The two media can be of very different nature. In particular, they can be a gas, a liquid or a solid.Many materials which we...
. In general, gas is present in large amount so it will be divided in polydisperse
Polydisperse
A collection of objects is called polydisperse or polysized if they have a broad range of size, shape and mass characteristics. A sample of objects that have a uniform size, shape and mass distribution are called monodisperse. In practice, polydisperse collections are common because it is...
gas bubbles separated by liquid regions which may form films, thinner and thinner when the liquid phase is drained out of the system films
Interface (chemistry)
An interface is a surface forming a common boundary among two different phases, such as an insoluble solid and a liquid, two immiscible liquids or a liquid and an insoluble gas. The importance of the interface depends on which type of system is being treated: the bigger the quotient area/volume,...
.. When the principal scale is small, id est for fine foam, this dispersed medium can be considered as a type of colloid
Colloid
A colloid is a substance microscopically dispersed evenly throughout another substance.A colloidal system consists of two separate phases: a dispersed phase and a continuous phase . A colloidal system may be solid, liquid, or gaseous.Many familiar substances are colloids, as shown in the chart below...
.
The term foam may also refer to anything that is analogous to such a phenomenon, such as quantum foam
Quantum foam
Quantum foam, also referred to as spacetime foam, is a concept in quantum mechanics, devised by John Wheeler in 1955. The foam is supposed to be the foundations of the fabric of the universe. Additionally, it can be used as a qualitative description of subatomic spacetime turbulence at extremely...
, polyurethane
Polyurethane
A polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...
foam (foam rubber
Foam rubber
Foam rubber refers to rubber that has been manufactured with a foaming agent to create an air-filled matrix structure. Commercial foam rubbers are generally either polyurethane foam or natural foam rubber latex. Latex foam rubber, used in mattresses, is well-known for its endurance.-See also:*...
), XPS foam, Polystyrene
Polystyrene
Polystyrene ) also known as Thermocole, abbreviated following ISO Standard PS, is an aromatic polymer made from the monomer styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon that is manufactured from petroleum by the chemical industry...
, phenolic, or many other manufactured foams. This is not the purpose of this page.
Structure of foams
One scale is the bubble one: real-life foams are typically disordered and have a variety of bubble sizes. At larger sizes, the study of idealized foams is closely linked to the mathematical problems of minimal surface
Minimal surface
In mathematics, a minimal surface is a surface with a mean curvature of zero.These include, but are not limited to, surfaces of minimum area subject to various constraints....
s and three-dimensional tessellations, also called honeycombs
Honeycomb (geometry)
In geometry, a honeycomb is a space filling or close packing of polyhedral or higher-dimensional cells, so that there are no gaps. It is an example of the more general mathematical tiling or tessellation in any number of dimensions....
. The Weaire-Phelan structure
Weaire-Phelan structure
In geometry, the Weaire–Phelan structure is a complex 3-dimensional structure representing an idealised foam of equal-sized bubbles. In 1993, Trinity College Dublin physicist Denis Weaire and his student Robert Phelan found that in computer simulations of foam, this structure was a better...
is believed to be the best possible (optimal) unit cell of a perfectly ordered foam , while Plateau's laws
Plateau's laws
Plateau's laws describe the structure of soap films. These laws were formulated in the 19th century by the Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau from his experimental observations.Plateau's laws state:# Soap films are made of entire smooth surfaces....
describe how soap-films form structures in foams.
At lower scale than the bubble one, is the thickness of the film for dry enough foams, which can be considered as a network of interconnected films called lamellae. Ideally, the lamellae are connected by three and radiate 120° outward from the connection points, known as Plateau borders
Plateau's laws
Plateau's laws describe the structure of soap films. These laws were formulated in the 19th century by the Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau from his experimental observations.Plateau's laws state:# Soap films are made of entire smooth surfaces....
.
An even lower scale is the one of the liquid-air interface at the surface of the film. Most of the time this interface is stabilized by a layer of amphiphilic structure, often made of surfactant
Surfactant
Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension of a liquid, the interfacial tension between two liquids, or that between a liquid and a solid...
s, particles (Pyckering), or more complex associations.
Foaming and foam stability
Several conditions are needed to produce foam: there must be mechanical work, surface active componentsSurfactant
Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension of a liquid, the interfacial tension between two liquids, or that between a liquid and a solid...
that reduce the surface tension
Surface tension
Surface tension is a property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force. It is revealed, for example, in floating of some objects on the surface of water, even though they are denser than water, and in the ability of some insects to run on the water surface...
, and the formation of foam faster than its breakdown.
To create foam, work (W) is needed to increase the surface area
Surface area
Surface area is the measure of how much exposed area a solid object has, expressed in square units. Mathematical description of the surface area is considerably more involved than the definition of arc length of a curve. For polyhedra the surface area is the sum of the areas of its faces...
(ΔA):
where γ is the surface tension.
Stabilisation of foam is caused by van der Waals force
Van der Waals force
In physical chemistry, the van der Waals force , named after Dutch scientist Johannes Diderik van der Waals, is the sum of the attractive or repulsive forces between molecules other than those due to covalent bonds or to the electrostatic interaction of ions with one another or with neutral...
s between the molecules in the foam, electrical double layers created by dipolar
Dipole
In physics, there are several kinds of dipoles:*An electric dipole is a separation of positive and negative charges. The simplest example of this is a pair of electric charges of equal magnitude but opposite sign, separated by some distance. A permanent electric dipole is called an electret.*A...
surfactants, and the Marangoni effect
Marangoni effect
The Marangoni effect is the mass transfer along an interface between two fluids due to surface tension gradient...
, which acts as a restoring force to the lamellas.
Several destabilising effects can break foam down. (i) Gravitation
Gravitation
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
causes drainage of liquid to the foam base, (ii)osmotic pressure
Osmotic pressure
Osmotic pressure is the pressure which needs to be applied to a solution to prevent the inward flow of water across a semipermeable membrane....
causes drainage from the lamellas to the Plateau borders due to internal concentration differences in the foam, while (iii)Laplace pressure
Laplace pressure
The Laplace pressure is the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of a bubble or droplet. The effect is caused by the surface tension of the interface between liquid and gas.The Laplace pressure is given as...
causes diffusion of gas from small to large bubbles due to pressure difference. Films can break under disjoining pressure
Disjoining pressure
Disjoining pressure , in surface chemistry, according to an IUPAC definition, arises from an attractive interaction between two surfaces...
, These effects can lead to rearrangement of the foam structure at scales larger than the bubbles, which may be individual (T1 process
T1 process
A T1 process is a topological rearrangement process of the first kind for four discrete objects such as bubbles, drops, cells, etc. The four objects are initially arranged in a plane in the following way. Objects A and B are in contact and objects C and D are on either side of the AB group and...
) or collective (even of the "avalanche" type).
Experiments and characterizations
Being a multiscale system involving many phenomena, and a versatile mdeium, foam can be studied using many different techniques. Considering the different scales, experimental techniques are diffracion ones, mainly light scattering techniques (DWS, see below, static and dynamic light scattering, X rays and neutron scattering) at submicronic scales, or microscopic ones. Considering the system as continuous, its bulk' properties properties can be characterized by light transmittance but also conductimetry. The correlation between structure and bulk is evidenced more accurately by acoustics in particular. The organisation between bubbles has been studied numerically using sequential attempts of evolution of the minimum surface energy either at random (Pott(s model) or deterministic way (surface evolver). The evolution with time, i.e. the dynamics, can be simulated using these models, but also the bubble model (Durian) which considers the motion of individual bubbles.Among possible examples, let us cite low scale observations of the structure done using reflectivity by the films between bubbles, of radiation : ponctual using laser or X rays beams, or more global using neutron scattering.
A typical light scattering (or diffusion) optical technique is multiple light scattering coupled with vertical scanning is the most widely used technique to monitor the dispersion state of a product, hence identifying and quantifying destabilisation phenomena. It works on any concentrated dispersions without dilution, including foams. When light is sent through the sample, it is backscattered by the bubbles. The backscattering intensity is directly proportional to the size and volume fraction of the dispersed phase. Therefore, local changes in concentration (drainage, syneresis
Syneresis (chemistry)
Syneresis , in chemistry, is the extraction or expulsion of a liquid from a gel, as when lymph drains from a contracting clot of blood. Another example of syneresis is the collection of whey on the surface of yogurt...
) and global changes in size (ripening, coalescence) are detected and monitored.
Liquid foams
Liquid foams can be used in fire retardant foamFire retardant foam
Fire-fighting foam is a foam used for fire suppression. Its role is to cool the fire and to coat the fuel, preventing its contact with oxygen, resulting in suppression of the combustion. Fire-fighting foam was invented by the Russian engineer and chemist Aleksandr Loran in 1902.The surfactants used...
, such as those that are used in extinguishing fires, especially oil fires.
In some ways, leavened bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
is a foam, as the yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
causes the bread to rise by producing tiny bubbles of gas in the dough.
The unique property of gas-liquid foams having very high specific surface area are exploited in the chemical processes of froth flotation
Froth flotation
Froth flotation is a process for selectively separating hydrophobic materials from hydrophilic. This is used in several processing industries...
and foam fractionation
Foam fractionation
Foam fractionation is a chemical process in which hydrophobic molecules are preferentially separated from a liquid solution using rising columns of foam. It is commonly used, albeit on a small scale, for the removal of organic waste from aquariums; these units are known as "protein skimmers"...
.
Solid foams
Solid foams form an important class of lightweight cellular engineering materials. These foams can be classified into two types based on their pore structure: open-cell-structured foams (also known as reticulated foamReticulated foam
Reticulated foam is a very porous, low density solid foam. 'Reticulated' means like a net. Reticulated foams are extremely open foams i.e. there are few, if any, intact bubbles or cell windows. In contrast, the foam formed by soap bubbles is composed solely of intact bubbles...
s) and closed-cell foams.
Open-cell-structured foams contain pores that are connected to each other and form an interconnected network that is relatively soft. Open-cell foams will fill with whatever they are surrounded with. If filled with air, a relatively good insulator is the result, but, if the open cells fill with water, insulation properties would be reduced. Foam rubber is a type of open-cell foam.
Closed-cell foams do not have interconnected pores. The closed-cell foams normally have higher compressive strength due to their structures. However, closed-cell foams are also in general denser, require more material, and as a consequence are more expensive to produce. The closed cells can be filled with a specialized gas to provide improved insulation. The closed-cell structure foams have higher dimensional stability, low moisture absorption coefficients, and higher strength compared to open-cell-structured foams. All types of foam are widely used as core material in sandwich-structured composite materials.
From the early 20th century, various types of specially manufactured solid foams came into use. The low density
Density
The mass density or density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. The symbol most often used for density is ρ . In some cases , density is also defined as its weight per unit volume; although, this quantity is more properly called specific weight...
of these foams made them excellent as thermal insulator
Thermal insulation
Thermal insulation is the reduction of the effects of the various processes of heat transfer between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Heat transfer is the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature...
s and flotation devices, and their lightness and compressibility made them ideal as packing materials and stuffings. A modern application of foam technology is aerogel
Aerogel
Aerogel is a synthetic porous material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with a gas. The result is a solid with extremely low density and thermal conductivity...
, which is a closed-cell foam with very good insulatory properties, that is also very light. It is usually based on alumina, chromia, and tin oxide, with carbon aerogels first developed in the late 1980s.
Syntactic foam
A special class of closed-cell foams is known as syntactic foam, which contains hollow particles embedded in a matrix material. The spheres can be made from several materials, including glass, ceramic, and polymers. The advantage of syntactic foams is that they have a very high strength-to-weight ratio, making them ideal materials for many applications, including deep-sea and space applications. One particular syntactic foam employs shape memory polymerShape Memory Polymer
Shape-memory polymers are polymeric smart materials that have the ability to return from a deformed state to their original shape induced by an external stimulus , such as temperature change....
as its matrix, enabling the foam to take on the characteristics of shape memory resins and composite materials; i.e., it has the ability to be reshaped repeatedly when heated above a certain temperature and cooled. Shape memory foams have many possible applications, such as dynamic structural support, flexible foam core, and expandable foam fill.
Integral skin foam
Integral skin foam, also known as self-skin foam, is a type of foam with a high-density skin and a low-density core. They can be formed in an open-mold process or a closed-mold process. In the open-mold process, two reactive components are mixed and poured into an open mold. The mold is then closed and the mixture is allowed to expand and cure. Examples of items produced using this process include arm rests, baby seats, shoe soles, and mattressMattress
A mattress is a manufactured product to sleep or lie on, consisting of resilient materials and covered with an outer fabric or ticking. In the developed world it is typically part of a bed set and is placed upon a foundation....
es. The closed-mold process, more commonly known as reaction injection molding
Reaction injection molding
Reaction injection molding is similar to injection molding except thermosetting polymers are used, which requires a curing reaction to occur within the mold.Common items made via RIM include automotive bumpers, air spoilers, and fenders.-Process:...
(RIM), injects the mixed components into a closed mold under high pressures.
Defoaming
Foam, in this case meaning "bubbly liquid", is also produced as an often-unwanted by-productBy-product
A by-product is a secondary product derived from a manufacturing process or chemical reaction. It is not the primary product or service being produced.A by-product can be useful and marketable or it can be considered waste....
in the manufacture of various substances. For example, foam is a serious problem in the chemical industry
Chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into more than 70,000 different products.-Products:...
, especially for biochemical
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
processes. Many biological substances, for example protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
s, easily create foam on agitation and/or aeration
Aeration
Aeration is the process by which air is circulated through, mixed with or dissolved in a liquid or substance.-Aeration of liquids:-Methods:Aeration of liquids is achieved by:...
. Foam is a problem because it alters the liquid flow and blocks oxygen transfer from air (thereby preventing microbial respiration in aerobic fermentation
Fermentation (biochemistry)
Fermentation is the process of extracting energy from the oxidation of organic compounds, such as carbohydrates, using an endogenous electron acceptor, which is usually an organic compound. In contrast, respiration is where electrons are donated to an exogenous electron acceptor, such as oxygen,...
processes). For this reason, anti-foaming agents, like silicone
Silicone
Silicones are inert, synthetic compounds with a variety of forms and uses. Typically heat-resistant and rubber-like, they are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medical applications , cookware, and insulation....
oils, are added to prevent these problems. Chemical methods of foam control are not always desired with respect to the problems (i.e., contamination
Contamination
Contamination is the presence of a minor and unwanted constituent in material, physical body, natural environment, at a workplace, etc.-Specifics:"Contamination" also has more specific meanings in science:...
, reduction of mass transfer
Mass transfer
Mass transfer is the net movement of mass from one location, usually meaning a stream, phase, fraction or component, to another. Mass transfer occurs in many processes, such as absorption, evaporation, adsorption, drying, precipitation, membrane filtration, and distillation. Mass transfer is used...
) they may cause especially in food and pharmaceutical industries, where the product quality is of great importance. In order to prevent foam formation, in such cases mechanical methods are mostly dominant over chemical ones.
Speed of Sound
The acoustical property of the speed of sound through a foam is of interest when analyzing failures of hydraulic components. The analysis involves calculating total hydraulic cycles to fatigue failure. The speed of sound in a foam is determined by the mechanical properties of the gas (creating the foam, oxygen, nitrogen, and combinations of).An assumption that the speed of sound based on the fluid properties of the liquid will lead to errors in calculating fatigue cycles to failure of mechanical hydraulic components. Using acoustical transducers and related instrumentation that set low limits (0 - 50,000 Hz with roll-off) will result in errors. The low roll-off during measurement of actual frequency of acoustic cycles results in miscalculation due to actual hydraulic cycles in the possible ranges of 1-1000 MHz or higher. Instrumentation systems are most revealing when cycle bandwidths exceed the actual measured cycles by a factors of 10 to 100. Associated instrumentation costs also increase by factors of 10 to 100.
Most moving hydro-mechanical components cycle at 0-50,000 Hz, but entrained gas bubbles resulting in a foamy condition of the associated hydraulic fluid results in actual hydraulic cycles that can exceed 1000 MHz even if the moving mechanical components do not cycle at the higher cycle frequency.
See also
- Ballistic foamBallistic foamBallistic foam is a foam that sets hard. It is widely used in the manufacture and repair of aircraft to form a light but strong filler for aircraft wings. The foam is used to surround aircraft fuel tanks to reduce the chance of fires caused by the penetration of incendiary projectiles....
- Composite materialComposite materialComposite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...
- Metal foamMetal foamA metal foam is a cellular structure consisting of a solid metal, frequently aluminium, containing a large volume fraction of gas-filled pores. The pores can be sealed , or they can form an interconnected network . The defining characteristic of metal foams is a very high porosity: typically...
- NanofoamNanofoamNanofoams are a class of nanostructured, porous materials, foams, containing a significant population of pores with diameters less than 100 nm. Aerogels are one example of nanofoam.- Metal Nanofoams :...
- Ocean foamOcean foamSea foam, ocean foam, beach foam, or spume is a type of foam created by the agitation of seawater, particularly when it contains higher concentrations of dissolved organic matter derived from sources such as the offshore breakdown of algal blooms. These compounds can act as surfactants or foaming...