THE INFLUENCE OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON THE PROPERTIES OF GLASS FOAM PRODUCED FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTE GLASS USING SiC AS THE FOAMING AGENT

Abstract

Glass foams having a low bulk density, 0.22-0.36 g.cm-3 were produced using waste glass as the raw material and SiC as the foaming agent.. The produced glass foam has very high insulation performance with a very low thermal conductivity of 0.045-0.065 W.m-1.K-1, making it suitable for thermal and acoustic applications. Despite its highly porous structure, it exhibits a very high compressive strength between 0.08-6.99 MPa and a good dimensional stability. The environmentally friendly glass foam produced in this study has a potential as a structural and insulation material in construction applications. Nano-sized foaming agents enhances the efficiency of the reaction in the manufacturing process. The properties such as volume change, weight loss, microstructure, the mineralogical structure, the sintered bulk density, and the porosity of the prepared samples were measured and analyzed. The characterization of the thermal and the mechanical properties of the samples was performed by testing their compressive strength, and thermal conductivity.