Ultra-Light, Heat-Resistant, Flexible And Thermal Insulation Graphene-Fluororubber Foam Prepared By Using N-2 As A Blowing Agent

Developing light-weight fluororubber foam is a challenging task mainly because of its high density and the easy shrinkage of foam. A promising approach to overcome this challenge is the use of supercritical fluid (SCF) foaming method. Herein, an ultra-light, heat-resistant, and adiabatic fluororubber foam was developed through preparing fluororubber gel, followed by using eco-friendly supercritical nitrogen (SC N-2) as blowing agent and the properties of prepared foam with different graphene content (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 phr) were investigated. The developed fluororubber foam has the closed-cell structure as the general rubber foam and ultra-light property (i.e. density of 9 mg/cm(3)). Good flexibility and compressibility, as well as excellent heat resistance (foam can withstand at high temperature above 200 degrees C for which there is no obvious change in fluororubber foam) and thermal insulation (thermal conductivity in the range 0.020 - 0.032 W/mK) meet well the desirable properties for thermal insulation application, which supports fluororubber foams to be a promising material.