X-ray and FTIR μ-CTs for morphological and chemical characterization of eco-sustainable insulating foams

Here it is reported a multidisciplinary approach based on tomography and infrared techniques applied to the characterization of tannin porous rigid foams, potentially usable as new insulating materials in green building technology. With conventional x-ray tomography it was possible to preliminary evaluate the homogeneity of the samples at low resolution, while then, thanks to the synchrotron source, it was possible to obtain more detailed information at a micro-scale level. At the same time chemical characterization was done through Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) imaging. Conventionally, FTIR imaging is limited to a planar projection, not considering the 3D structure of the material. To avoid this limitation, a FTIR 3D-tomography setup was built and the foams characterized by a chemical point of view. The idea is to directly correlate these data with the 3D-structural information obtained with the x-ray computed tomography exploiting the synchrotron radiation as source, allowing a complete characterization of the material morphology and chemistry at the microscale.