Melamine foam has a thermal conductivity of 0.0361, wanting to get below 0.015.

I propose using carbon nano spheres (bucky balls) to fill the foam cells.

Perhaps the effervescent reaction to generate the foam can also include reaction to produce bucky balls? not sure on the efficiency of such a reaction.
-- lostmind, Nov 21 2013

melamine foam spec sheet http://www.soundpro...f/Melamine-Foam.pdf
ref to TC [lostmind, Nov 21 2013]

I'm not sure I understand how this is supposed to reduce the thermal conductivity of a foamed material. I believe buckyballs have a high thermal conductivity (higher than air, anyway), so filling the normally air filled pores/cells of a material with them won't decrease thermal conductivity.

Yes, smaller pore sizes typically equate to a more convoluted conduction path, and thus lower conductivity, but this doesn't decrease the pore size of the base material.
-- MechE, Nov 21 2013


Ok, so perhaps bucky balls in the matrix rather than the pores?
-- lostmind, Nov 21 2013


If it can be done without affecting the structural integrity of the walls, then that might be an improvement, but I wouldn't want to swear either way without a lot more thermal analysis than I want to do (or probably can, honestly).
-- MechE, Nov 21 2013


Can you modify buckyball surface chemistry? add something that enhances the vDw forces between the buckyballs and the melamine-formaldehyde linkages?
-- lostmind, Nov 22 2013


Scratch that, buckyballs use all 4 bonds. Was thinking of a phenol
-- lostmind, Nov 22 2013


Typically, melamine is an open-cell (reticulated) foam, so for lower TC a solution may be to fill the voids with Argon. How to keep the Argon from diffusing away is another problem.
-- 8th of 7, Nov 22 2013


So a closed cell foam would have optimised diffusion paths?
-- lostmind, Nov 24 2013


A closed cell foam has no diffusion paths (except by diffusion through the walls of the cells). Argon-filled closed cell foams exist, although they slowly lose argon.

//Melamine foam has a thermal conductivity of 0.0361, wanting to get below 0.015// Units?
-- spidermother, Nov 25 2013


// Units? //

Units are irrelevant. The ratio of the two values indicates that approximately a 60% improvement is the desired outcome.
-- 8th of 7, Nov 25 2013


I understand that closed pore is inherently denser in matrix. Although that may be something to modify with surface chemistry. Perhaps cooling/curing rate too.
-- lostmind, Nov 25 2013


Closed cell foams may be envisaged as a polymer surrounding many voids; open cell foam as a void containing many strands of polymer. So yes, closed-cell is inherently and unavoidably denser.
-- 8th of 7, Nov 25 2013



random, halfbakery