Aurélie Hourlier‑Fargette, winner of the 2025 JPhys Materials Early Career Award, discusses the inspirations behind her interdisciplinary work on bubble assemblies and foam-based materials ...

Lightweight composite metal foams are effective at blocking harmful radiation, according to a new study carried out by researchers in the US. Indeed, the foams can efficiently block X-rays, gamma rays ...

That doesn’t make the effort futile. It places it in context. Bio-based foams represent one strategy among many: redesign packaging, reduce unnecessary cushioning, regulate the worst offenders, and ...

Polyurethane foam can be divided into two categories, such as open-cell and closed-cell foam. The former is a plastic with incomplete cell walls and include holes through which air and liquid can ...

A new plant-based substitute for polyurethane foam eliminates the health risk of the material, commonly found in insulation, car seats and other types of cushioning, and it’s more environmentally ...

Foams are everywhere: soap suds, shaving cream, whipped toppings and food emulsions like mayonnaise. For decades, scientists believed that foams behave like glass, their microscopic components trapped ...

Nature’s porous materials, bone, coral and cork, are synonymous with strong and lightweight structures. Driven by the prospect of producing a family of materials with unique combinations of properties ...

Researchers have developed a new type of foam – called capillary foam – that solves many of the problems faced by traditional foams. The foam could be used to make lightweight, sustainable materials.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used in aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) for fighting liquid fuel fires since the 1970s. Fluorine-free foams are foams that do not contain any ...

Liquid foams have a remarkable property: they completely block the transmission of sound over a wide range of frequencies. Physicists have studied how sound is attenuated in liquid foams. Their ...

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have solved a long-standing mystery behind the drainage of liquid from foams. Standard physics models wildly overestimate the height of ...