**1. Introduction**

Foam materials were originally conceived by clear inspiration in some natural porous materials, such as wood, bamboo canes, or bones, as they present a very attractive combination of properties such as excellent mechanical strength blended with low density [1]. Motivated by the versatility of those natural porous materials, human ingenuity succeeded in the design of new foam materials, their most suitable manufacturing processes, and their use in technologically demanding applications. In recent years, foam materials have reached a high level of maturity in their manufacture, development, applications, and integration into complex systems to fulfill specific applications.

Foam materials can be classified depending on their nature, pore interconnectivity, morphology of their cellular structure, or other variables that allow their differences to be outlined. A widespread classification divides foams into open-pore and closed-pore, depending on whether their porous cellular structures are interconnected or not, respectively. When more than half of the cells are open, the materials are considered open-pore foams. Closed-pore foams were proven useful in thermal insulation and structural applications (load-bearing components, energy absorbers, etc.) as well as in biomedical implants. Open-pore foams have cells that are not completely closed so a fluid can pass through the material. While open-pore foams are structurally less interesting, their open-pore space expands their utility to functional applications such as particle filters, bacteriological filters, active heat dissipation units, etc.

The fields of application of open-pore foam materials depend on their porous architectures and the nature of their solid phases. Open-pore ceramic foams have traditionally been used as thermal insulators, bio-scaffolds in tissue engineering, catalytic supports, and materials for sound and impact absorption, among others [2]. Recently, their use has been extended to catalytic applications given their suitability to be catalyst supports in gaseous or liquid phase reactions, since the presence of interconnected pores allows the passage of fluids and, therefore, can be used in continuous reactors. Polymer foams show excellent properties which make them suitable for many applications such as construction, cushioning and insulation, or sound dampening [3]. Open-pore metal foams also share some of these applications, but they deserve a special attention. Their outstanding mechanical and thermoelectrical conductive properties allow these materials being considered excellent candidates for a wide variety of applications depending on their porous structure, as it can be seen in **Figure 1**. Their high surface area per unit volume, low density, and great heat transfer capacity make them suitable for thermal management (heat exchangers and heat sinks), electrode materials, catalyst carriers, and biomedical engineering as biocompatible and biodegradable scaffolds [4]. When used in medical implantology, the interconnected structure provides a transition space between the bone and the biomaterial structural support, which allow the in-growth of bone tissue and vascularization [5]. Other properties such as high strength and toughness, great sound-absorbing capacity, and high impact energy

**3**

below.

*Open-Pore Foams Modified by Incorporation of New Phases: Multiphase Foams for Thermal…*

absorption make them interesting materials for structural applications in the

**2. Current needs to incorporate new phases into open-pore foams**

The development of emerging technologies such as new electronic devices in electronics, aeronautics, and aerospace; advances in the chemical industry; and the still incipient stage of biomedical engineering is concomitant with the accelerated progress of research into new materials. Some of the most demanding applications require further developments of open-pore foam materials and are discussed here

Thermal management has become a critical issue that often slows down or even hinders the progress of evolving power electronic technologies as a result of increasing power densities and decreasing transistor dimensions [4–8]. A successful strategy for efficient heat removal in electronic systems, called active thermal management, consists in forcing the direct transfer of heat from hot spots to some carrier fluids through a conduction-convection mechanism by means of using high thermally conductive open-pore foams. Research into new materials for these applications was focused mainly on metal and carbon/graphite foams as they exhibit interesting physical properties, such as low density and high specific area per unit volume, as well as decent thermal conductivity [9–12]. Many authors have focused on the investigation of forced convection parameters, such as heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop for different metal foams. Although these materials exhibit interesting characteristics, their properties of relatively high heat transfer coefficient and low pressure drop are still insufficient for its use in final applications of the most demanding emerging electronic technologies. Recent developments have modified open-pore foams by the incorporation of new phases either into the solid or into the cavities of the porous structure. These materials show considerable

Open-pore foams used in catalytic applications must meet two requirements: a high specific surface allowing high dispersion of the catalytically active phase and not too small pore sizes to prevent a high pressure drop of the fluid passing through it. Although the open-pore foams used so far in catalysis have roughly met these characteristics, the new demands for better catalytic performance require materials with new structural pore designs and improved properties. To this end, porous materials must provide (i) the highest possible thermal conductivity to improve heat transport from or to the outside of the catalytic reactor (easily achievable when the nature of the solid is metallic) and (ii) the possibility to break the laminar flow in order to enhance the interaction between the fluid and the catalyst. The first requirement can be achieved by incorporating thermal inclusions into the solid phase of the foam and/or by a crystalline modification of the solid phase assisted by the catalytic action of the new present phases. The second requirement can be

Despite all their great attributes, traditional foams are often inappropriate to meet the requirements of the most advanced technological challenges; hence their designs have recently been reformulated by the incorporation of new functional phases. In this work, the authors focus the attention on this last type of open-pore foams, in which different components/phases have been incorporated to generate multiphase materials with a great potential of use in applications of different sectors

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88977*

aerospace, automotive, or marine industry.

such as electronics, medicine, or catalysis.

improvements in their thermal properties [8, 13, 14].

achieved by incorporating new phases into the porous cavities.

In addition to the mentioned applications, open-pore metal foams are recently being the subjects of intense study in medical implantology. These

**Figure 1.** *Applications of metal foams according to porous structure. Partially reproduced from [1].*

### *Open-Pore Foams Modified by Incorporation of New Phases: Multiphase Foams for Thermal… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88977*

absorption make them interesting materials for structural applications in the aerospace, automotive, or marine industry.

Despite all their great attributes, traditional foams are often inappropriate to meet the requirements of the most advanced technological challenges; hence their designs have recently been reformulated by the incorporation of new functional phases. In this work, the authors focus the attention on this last type of open-pore foams, in which different components/phases have been incorporated to generate multiphase materials with a great potential of use in applications of different sectors such as electronics, medicine, or catalysis.
