Controlling the microstructure of polymer foams via microfluidic templating Thomas Moore 1 , Samantha O’Connell 2 , Jebin Jestine 2 , Robert Menzel 1 1 University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK, 2 AWE plc., Aldermaston, Berkshire, UK Low density, macroporous polymer foams are used as target components for high powered laser experiments, investigating the physics of plasmas at extremely high temperatures and pressures to gain further understanding of nuclear reactions. In order for models to predict the reactions in the plasma more effectively, solid foams with homogeneous structure, density, and known pore sizes are desirable over materials with a random distribution of pores, which make modelling extremely difficult. These stringent material requirements necessitate fabrication methods able to synthesise materials with highly tuneable, bespoke properties, whilst providing reproducible control of density, uniformity, and void sizes. Current synthesis strategies employ high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) as templates, 1 however, droplet microfluidics may offer an attractive alternative for the synthesis of monodisperse template materials, with greater flexibility. Water-in-styrene emulsions generated using microfluidics were explored as templates for microstructured polystyrene foams, to demonstrate control of pore sizes and density via modulation of microfluidic parameters. This work has shown that open cell polyHIPE-like foams with monodisperse pores as small as 6µm can be templated using microfluidic generated droplets, with controlled density and density gradients, showing promise for translation into plasma physics experiments. References 1. K. Nagai, C. S. A. Musgrave and W. Nazarov, Physics of Plasmas 25 (3), 030501 (2018).
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