4. CONCLUSIONS
Highly porous open-cell SiOC foams were fabricated from polysiloxane, LDPE, and polymer microbead blends at a
temperature of 1200 oC using a foaming and pyrolysis process. The porosities and cell densities of the obtained SiOC
foams ranged from 77 % to 90 % and from 2.1×108 cells/cm3to 1.1×109 cells/cm3, respectively. Microbead size played a more important role than the addition of LDPE in controlling the cell density and porosity of the final SiOC foams. Smaller microbead led to a higher cell density by providing more nucleation sites, resulting in
lower porosity.