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Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Porous Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2024) | Viewed by 12519

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Dr. Francesco Baino

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Institute of Materials Physics and Engineering, Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin, Italy
Interests: ceramics; glasses; porous materials; additive manufacturing; bioactive glasses; bioceramics; composites; tissue engineering; multifunctional biomaterials; biomedical scaffolds; advanced ceramics; sustainable materials; waste management
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

After our successful first volume of the Special Issue “Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites”, we decided to make the special issue as a collection on porous ceramics, glasses and composites. The importance of porous materials has recently grown because of their versatile and multiple industrial and high-tech applications, covering different fields from energetic to biomedical. Nowadays, porous ceramics are used to fabricate a huge variety of devices such as hot gas or dust collectors, absorbers, thermal insulators, dielectric resonators, engine components for automobile and also biomaterials, drug delivery devices, and bioreactors. The wide use of these materials is explained by their appealing properties such as chemical, biological and thermal resistance, low thermal conductivity, and relatively low density. Furthermore, the most attractive property of porous ceramics is their permeability which confers to these materials the ability to filter, deliver and release different fluids, substances and particles. In the fabrication of porous ceramic materials, a key factor is represented by the control of pore characteristics (e.g. amount, geometry, interconnectivity etc.) that can be tailored by properly setting the parameters in several processing methods. An important role is also played by raw materials features, type of binder used, and sintering parameters which can all impact the final porosity in terms of pore size and distribution.

This Special Issue will provide readers with up-to-date information on the recent progress in the fields of porous ceramics, with an emphasis on their many applications and the different manufacturing processes employed to realize them.

Contributing papers, both research articles and comprehensive reviews, are solicited in all the relevant areas for porous ceramics, including:

Thermal and acoustic insulation
Construction
Filtration
Catalysis
Biomedical applications
Porous materials for the circular economy
Diffusion processes in porous media
Ceramic and glass foams
Analysis of porous materials

Dr. Francesco Baino
Guest Editor

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Keywords

porous materials
mesoporous ceramics
porous glasses
scaffolds
sintering
foaming
adsorbent
catalytic support
additive manufacturing
porous composites

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

2 pages, 173 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Special Issue: Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II

by Francesco Baino

Materials 2023, 16(17), 5971; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16175971 - 31 Aug 2023

Viewed by 743

Abstract

This Special Issue, titled “Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II”, aims to present an up-to-date overview of the synthesis/fabrication, characterization, and applications of porous materials, with a special focus on ceramics, glasses, and composites [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II)

Research

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21 pages, 7269 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance Evaluation of Foamed Concrete with Lightweight Aggregate: Strength, Shrinkage, and Thermal Conductivity

by Jiaying Wei, Tianyu Wang, Ying Zhong, Yi Zhang and Christopher K. Y. Leung

Materials 2024, 17(15), 3869; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17153869 - 5 Aug 2024

Viewed by 995

Abstract

Lightweight concrete offers numerous advantages for modular construction, including easier construction planning and logistics, and the ability to offset additional dead loads induced by double-wall and double-slab features. In a previous study, authors proposed incorporating lightweight aggregate into foamed concrete instead of adding extra foam to achieve lower density, resulting in lightweight concrete with an excellent strength-to-density ratio. This paper further investigated the performance aspects of foamed concrete with lightweight aggregate beyond mechanical strength. To evaluate the effect of aggregate type and foam content, three mix compositions were designed for the lightweight concrete. Specimens were prepared for experimental tests on thermal conductivity and drying shrinkage of lightweight concrete. Results showed that while both the increase in foam volume and the incorporation of lightweight aggregate led to higher drying shrinkage, they also contributed to improved insulating properties and reduced potential of cracking. Using typical multi-storey modular residential buildings in Hong Kong and three other Chinese cities as case studies, simulations were performed to assess potential savings in annual cooling and heating loads by employing the proposed lightweight concrete. These findings demonstrate the practical benefits of using foamed concrete with lightweight aggregate in modular construction and provide valuable insights for further optimization and implementation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II)

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16 pages, 53146 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Freeze-Casting of Alumina and Permeability Analysis Based on a 3D Microstructure Reconstructed Using Generative Adversarial Networks

by Xianhang Li, Li Duan, Shihao Zhou, Xuhao Liu, Zhaoyue Yao and Zilin Yan

Materials 2024, 17(10), 2432; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17102432 - 18 May 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1281

Abstract

In this study, alumina ceramics with hierarchical pores were successfully fabricated using freeze casting. Experimental studies show that both the solid loading of the slurry and the thermal insulation layer at the interface of the slurry and cooling plate can influence the pore characteristics of cast samples. In order to examine the pore characteristics and evaluate the permeability of the freeze-cast samples fabricated under different conditions, a generative adversarial network (GAN) method was employed to reconstruct the three-dimensional (3D) microstructure from two-dimensional (2D) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the samples. Furthermore, GAN 3D reconstruction was validated against X-ray tomography 3D reconstruction results. Based on the GAN reconstructed microstructures, the permeability and pore distribution of the various samples were analyzed. The sample cast with 35 wt.% solid loading shows an optimal permeability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II)

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14 pages, 2588 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermogravimetric Analysis of Moisture in Natural and Thermally Treated Clay Materials

by Giulia Lo Dico, Lorenzo Lisuzzo, Verónica Carcelén, Giuseppe Cavallaro and Maciej Haranczyk

Materials 2024, 17(10), 2231; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17102231 - 9 May 2024

Viewed by 1139

Abstract

Clays are a class of porous materials; their surfaces are naturally covered by moisture. Weak thermal treatment may be considered practical to remove the water molecules, changing the surface properties and making the micro- and/or mesoporosities accessible to interact with other molecules. Herein, a modulated thermogravimetric analysis (MTGA) study of the moisture behavior on the structures of five, both fibrous and laminar, clay minerals is reported. The effect of the thermal treatment at 150 °C, which provokes the release of weakly adsorbed water molecules, was also investigated. The activation energies for the removal of the adsorbed water (Ea) were calculated, and they were found to be higher, namely, from 160 to 190 kJ mol⁻¹, for fibrous clay minerals compared to lamellar structures, ranging in this latter case from 80 to 100 kJ mol⁻¹. The thermal treatment enhances the rehydration in Na-montmorillonite, stevensite, and sepiolite structures with a decrease in the energy required to remove it, while Ea increases significantly in palygorskite (from 164 to 273 kJ mol⁻¹). As a proof of concept, the MTGA results are statistically correlated, together with a full characterization of the physico-chemical properties of the five clay minerals, with the adsorption of two molecules, i.e., aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and β-carotene. Herein, the amount of adsorbed molecules ranges from 12 to 97% for the former and from 22 to 35% for the latter, depending on the particular clay. The Ea was correlated with AFB1 adsorption with a Spearman score of −0.9. When the adsorbed water is forcibly removed, e.g., under vacuum conditions and high temperatures, the structure becomes the most important, decreasing the Spearman score between β-carotene and Ea to −0.6. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II)

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15 pages, 2059 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Large Cyclability of Elastocaloric Effect in Highly Porous Ni-Fe-Ga Foams

by Muhammad Imran, Mingfang Qian, Xuexi Zhang and Lin Geng

Materials 2024, 17(6), 1272; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17061272 - 9 Mar 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 997

Abstract

Solid-state refrigeration based on elastocaloric materials (eCMs) requires reversibility and repeatability. However, the intrinsic intergranular brittleness of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FMSMAs) limits fatigue life and, thus, is the crucial bottleneck for its industrial applications. Significant cyclic stability of elastocaloric effects (eCE) via 53% porosity in Ni-Fe-Ga FMSMA has already been proven. Here, Ni-Fe-Ga foams (single-/hierarchical pores) with high porosity of 64% and 73% via tailoring the material’s architecture to optimize the eCE performances are studied. A completely reversible superelastic behavior at room temperature (297 K) is demonstrated in high porosity (64–73%) Ni-Fe-Ga foams with small stress hysteresis, which is greatly conducive to durable fatigue life. Consequentially, hierarchical pore foam with 64% porosity exhibits a maximum reversible ∆T_ad of 2.0 K at much lower stress of 45 MPa with a large COP_mat of 34. Moreover, it shows stable elastocaloric behavior (ΔT_ad = 2.0 K) over >300 superelastic cycles with no significant deterioration. The enhanced eCE cyclability can be attributed to the pore hierarchies, which remarkably reduce the grain boundary constraints and/or limit the propagation of cracks to induce multiple stress-induced martensitic transformations (MTs). Therefore, this work paves the way for designing durable fatigue life FMSMAs as promising eCMs by manipulating the material architectures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II)

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19 pages, 6043 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Antimicrobial Cu-Doped TiO₂ Coatings on the β Ti-30Nb-5Mo Alloy by Micro-Arc Oxidation

by Giovana Collombaro Cardoso, Katia Barbaro, Pedro Akira Bazaglia Kuroda, Angela De Bonis, Roberto Teghil, Ivan I. Krasnyuk, Jr., Luca Imperatori, Carlos Roberto Grandini and Julietta V. Rau

Materials 2024, 17(1), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17010156 - 27 Dec 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1401

Abstract

Among the different surface modification techniques, micro-arc oxidation (MAO) is explored for its ability to enhance the surface properties of Ti alloys by creating a controlled and durable oxide layer. The incorporation of Cu ions during the MAO process introduces additional functionalities to the surface, offering improved corrosion resistance and antimicrobial activity. In this study, the β-metastable Ti-30Nb-5Mo alloy was oxidated through the MAO method to create a Cu-doped TiO₂ coating. The quantity of Cu ions in the electrolyte was changed (1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 mMol) to develop coatings with different Cu concentrations. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron and atomic force microscopies, contact angle, and Vickers microhardness techniques were applied to characterize the deposited coatings. Cu incorporation increased the antimicrobial activity of the coatings, inhibiting the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria strains, and Candida albicans fungus by approximately 44%, 37%, 19%, and 41%, respectively. Meanwhile, the presence of Cu did not inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli. The hardness of all the deposited coatings was between 4 and 5 GPa. All the coatings were non-cytotoxic for adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AMSC), promoting approximately 90% of cell growth and not affecting the AMSC differentiation into the osteogenic lineage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II)

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10 pages, 1213 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Production of Porous Biochar from Cow Dung Using Microwave Process

by Wen-Tien Tsai, Li-An Kuo, Chi-Hung Tsai, Hsiang-Lan Huang, Ru-Yuan Yang and Jen-Hsiung Tsai

Materials 2023, 16(24), 7667; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16247667 - 15 Dec 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1277

Abstract

To valorize livestock manure, the present study investigated the production of biochar from cow dung (CD) by microwave pyrolysis. The pore properties and chemical characteristics of CD and CD-based biochar products were found to correlate with the process parameters like microwave power (300–1000 W) and residence time (5–20 min). The findings indicated that CD is an excellent biomass based on the richness of lignocellulosic constituents from the results of proximate analysis and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Higher calorific values were obtained at mild microwave conditions, giving the maximal enhancement factor 139% in comparison with the calorific value of CD (18.97 MJ/kg). Also, it can be concluded that the biochar product obtained at 800 W for a holding time of 5 min had the maximal BET surface area of 127 m²/g and total pore volume of 0.104 cm³/g, which were microporous and mesoporous in the nitrogen adsorption–desorption adsorption analysis. On the other hand, the CD-based biochar contained oxygen-containing functional groups and inorganic minerals based on the spectroscopic analyses by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), thus featuring to be prone to hydrophilicity in aqueous solutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II)

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11 pages, 3619 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimization of Physical Activation Process by CO₂ for Activated Carbon Preparation from Honduras Mahogany Pod Husk

by Chi-Hung Tsai and Wen-Tien Tsai

Materials 2023, 16(19), 6558; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16196558 - 5 Oct 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1536

Abstract

In this work, the Honduras Mahogany (Swietenia macropnylla King, SMK) seed husk was used as a novel biomass resource for producing activated carbon by physical activation. The texture characteristics and chemical characterization of resulting products were investigated in correlation with the process parameters. Based on the thermochemical properties of the SMK biomass, the process conditions were set to a rate of about 10 °C/min under nitrogen (N₂) flow of 500 cm³/min heated to 500 °C, then switched to carbon dioxide (CO₂) flow of 100 cm³/min in the specified activation conditions (i.e., temperature of 700–850 °C for holding times of 0–60 min). Our findings showed that the texture characteristics (i.e., surface area and pore volume) increased with an activation temperature increase from 700 to 800 °C for a holding time of 30 min but gradually decreased as the temperature increased thereafter. Similarly, the texture characteristics also indicated an increasing trend with the residence time extending from 0 min to 30 min but slightly decreased as the time was extended to 60 min. Therefore, the optimal activation conditions for producing SMK-based activated carbon should be set at 800 °C for a holding time of 30 min to obtain the maximal texture characteristics (i.e., BET surface area of 966 m²/g and total pore volume of 0.43 cm³/g). On the other hand, the chemical characteristics were analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), showing oxygen complexes contained on the hydrophilic surface of the resulting activated carbon. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II)

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18 pages, 11323 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Open-Cell AlSn6Cu-SiC Composites: Fabrication, Dry-Sliding Wear Behavior, and Machine Learning Methods for Wear Prediction

by Mihail Kolev, Ludmil Drenchev, Veselin Petkov, Rositza Dimitrova and Daniela Kovacheva

Materials 2023, 16(18), 6208; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16186208 - 14 Sep 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1591

Abstract

Open-cell AMMCs are high-strength and lightweight materials with applications in different types of industries. However, one of the main goals in using these materials is to enhance their tribological behavior, which improves their durability and performance under frictional conditions. This study presents an approach for fabricating and predicting the wear behavior of open-cell AlSn6Cu-SiC composites, which are a type of porous AMMCs with improved tribological properties. The composites were fabricated using liquid-state processing, and their tribological properties are investigated by the pin-on-disk method under different loads (50 N and 100 N) and with dry-sliding friction. The microstructure and phase composition of the composites were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The mass wear and coefficient of friction (COF) of the materials were measured as quantitative indicators of their tribological behavior. The results showed that the open-cell AlSn6Cu-SiC composite had an enhanced tribological behavior compared to the open-cell AlSn6Cu material in terms of mass wear (38% decrease at 50 N and 31% decrease at 100 N) while maintaining the COF at the same level. The COF of the composites was predicted by six different machine learning methods based on the experimental data. The performance of these models was evaluated by various metrics (R2, MSE, RMSE, and MAE) on the validation and test sets. Based on the results, the open-cell AlSn6Cu-SiC composite outperformed the open-cell AlSn6Cu material in terms of mass loss under different loads with similar COF values. The ML models that were used can predict the COF accurately and reliably based on features, but they are affected by data quality and quantity, overfitting or underfitting, and load change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II)

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Review

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18 pages, 2541 KiB

Open AccessReview

Determining the Permeability of Porous Bioceramic Scaffolds: Significance, Overview of Current Methods and Challenges Ahead

by Roberta Gabrieli, Alessandro Schiavi and Francesco Baino

Materials 2024, 17(22), 5522; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17225522 - 12 Nov 2024

Viewed by 330

Abstract

The “architectural suitability” of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering is commonly evaluated by assessing the pore volume and the mean pore size (or pore size distribution, if possible) and comparing these values with the reference ranges of human cancellous bone. However, these two parameters cannot precisely describe the complex architecture of bone scaffolds and just provide a preliminary comparative criterion. Permeability is suggested as a more comprehensive and significant parameter to characterize scaffold architecture and mass transport capability, being also related to bone in-growth and, thus, functional properties. However, assessing the permeability of bioactive ceramics and glass scaffolds is a complex task from both methodological and experimental viewpoints. After providing an overview of the fundamentals about porosity in scaffolds, this review explores the different experimental and numerical approaches used to determine the permeability of porous bioceramics, describing the methodologies used (pump-based, gravity-based, acoustic and computational methods) and highlighting advantages and limitations to overcome (e.g., reliability issues and need for better standardization of the experimental procedures). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Ceramics, Glasses and Composites, Volume II)

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