Processing of Porous Ceramics by Direct Foaming: A Review

Macro porous ceramics possessing controlled microstructures and chemical compositions have increasingly proven useful in the industrial sphere. Their sintered structures have found application in both established and emerging, areas such as thermal insulation in buildings, filtration of liquids and molten materials, refractory insulation, bone scaffolds and tissue engineering. Stable ceramic foams can be formed by wet chemical methods using inorganic particles(e.g., Al₂O₃ or SiO₂). The wet foams are dried and sintered with improved porosity and mechanical properties. This review examines the different techniques used to prepare porous ceramics from ceramic foams, focusing on the explanation of this versatile method of direct foaming from the past to the present. Comparisons of the processes and the processing parameters are explained with the produced microstructures.