NOVEL OPEN CELL GEOPOLYMER FOAMS

Paolo Colombo(1,2), Marcelo Strozi Cilla(2,3), Mrcio Raymundo Morelli (3)

(1) University of Padova, Department of Industrial Engineering, Padova, Italy
(2) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
(3) Federal University of So Carlos, Graduate Program on Materials Science and Engineering,
Brazil
Email: paolo.colombo@unipd.it ; marcelocilla@ufscar.br ; morelli@power.ufscar.br

1. Motivation
The aim of this work was to fabricate
highly porous, open cell geopolymer
foams by two direct foaming routes: a)
gelcasting of surfactant stabilized slurries;
b) foaming by in situ formation of
surfactants (saponification reaction of a
vegetable oil in an alkaline medium).

b)

2. Introduction
Porous components based on
geopolymers are typically produced
employing procedures used in the cement
industry, i.e. the addition to an aqueous
geopolymer slurry of components, such as
silica fume or Al powder, capable of
generating in situ gaseous H2 by the
reaction occurring with metallic Si or Al in
a highly alkaline medium. Another route
that has been proposed is the addition of
peroxides, which decompose into water
and oxygen due to the high pH, generating
gas. These approaches provide a suitable
way of fabricating highly porous
components, but when these processing
routes are used the cells are typically
closed, i.e., the interconnection among
adjacent cells are not present, thereby
greatly limiting the functional properties of
the component, such as the permeability
to liquids or gases. Despite all these
studies, little work has been devoted to the
production of geopolymer foams using
alternative approaches.
We employed two alternative routes to
obtain open cell foam structures:
1) Gelcasting, which consists in
vigorously stirring a slurry containing a
suitable surfactant followed by setting of
the liquid foam. For geopolymer slurries,
the wet foam can be rapidly gelled simply
by exploiting the geopolymerization
reaction itself, with no need for organic
monomers or other stabilization/gelling
additives.
2) Saponification, which generates
carboxylate surfactants (soap molecules)
in situ through the hydrolysis reaction of
the triglycerides found in oils or fats
occurring in the highly alkaline
environment of the geopolymer slurry.

3. Materials and Methods

Porous geopolymers were prepared from
metakaolin, fly ash class F, potassium
silicate and potassium hydroxide,
respecting the oxide molar ratios as
follows: SiO2/Al2O3 = 3.78, K2O/SiO2 = 0.24
and H2O/K2O = 16.
Figure 1 reports the flowcharts for a) the
gelcasting route and b) the saponification
route. For the first route, 2 types of nonionic surfactant (Tween 80 and Triton X100) were used, while a commercial olive
oil, with saponification index (SI) of 190,
was used for the saponification route.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram for the: a) gelcasting

route and b) saponification route.

a)
4. Results

Using the gelcasting approach, it was possible to produce foams with a total pore
volume as high as ~80 vol%, with an amount of open porosity as high as ~60 vol% and
values in the range of 0.5 to 3.0 MPa for the compression strength for different
surfactant addition (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Mechanical Strength, total and open porosity of geopolymer foams produced
by the gelcasting route. a) with 2 wt% surfactant and b) with 4 wt% surfactant.

For the saponification route, it was possible to produce foams with a total pore volume
as high as ~85 vol%, with an amount of open porosity as high as ~70 vol%.

Besides that, SEM investigations (see Figure 3) showed a regular distribution of open
and interconnected cells with dense struts, more evident for samples prepared via the
saponification route.

a)

b)

Figure 4. Morphology of geopolymer foams obtained by different routes: a) gelcasting and b)

saponification.

5. Conclusions
These preliminary results suggest the suitability of these routes in order to obtain
highly porous geopolymer foams with interconnected porosity. Further studies,
concerning different process conditions (surfactant type and content, stirring velocity
for the gelcasting route; type of vegetable oil, stirring velocity for the saponification
route) are curently being carried out to further improve the morphology of the porous
components and the amount of open porosity generated.
Reference: M. Strozi Cilla, P. Colombo, M. Raymundo Morelli, Geopolymer foams by
gelcasting, Ceram. Intern., in press (doi: dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2013.11.011)
Acknowledgments: So Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)