Review of foam applications and research since 1980s

Foam types
Stable foam -mainly used in gap coating or screen coating e.g. back coating, black out,
laminating, flocking etc. Appearance: cream like ,half life above 5 hours
Semi-stable foam -mainly used to a certain penetration surface coating Appearance:
Shampoo foam like , half life around 30 minutes
Unstable foam -Used for deeply penetrated chemical application Appearance: Beer foam
like, half life less than 6 minutes
Notes Half life means the time it will take for half of the total weight foam collapse
into liquid
Conventional foam application mainly use blade coating or screen printing use stable
foam

Advantages of foam coating

Reduce weight and economize yarn consumption of the substrate

Insulation against heat and cold
Sound-deafening
Shock-absorbing (packaging material)
Handle effects
Very good embossing properties

 Water vapor permeability

Reduce coating strokes
Comparison stable foam coating / paste coating
foam coating with
foam coating
untreated fabric
knife-over-roller
calendered

fine coating doctor

knife

Conventional foam coating use aerated coating paste to coat onto fabrics by blade or screen

- Soft handle
-Less adhesion
- Low specific gravity, therefore less penetration into -Difficult to have high solid add-on
the fabric,
- High technical knowledge
- Coating of open fabrics possible,
necessary
Conventional paste or foam coating methods
Knife over air
Blade selective, must be sharp
Solid add on 5-50 g/m2
Fabric selective , cannot operate on coarse structure fabrics

Knife over roller

Suitable for paste and foam coating, Solid add on 25-250 g/m 2
Coating thickness rely on blade and fabric gap

Screen coating
Solid add on 5-120 g/m2
Only suitable for water based coating foam or paste
Can do foam finishing for its higher penetration

Can do color coating

Blade types
Conventional method to control application of foam/paste by options of blades and
angle of the blade

Other foam application methods

Why semi/un-stable foam is not used from 1980s

Reasons
Foam collapse all the time affect foam concentration esp. semi-stable and unstable
foam. Even the collapsing time is in seconds, collapsed foams chemical concentration is
much high than fresh foam.
Results
Unevenness across the width and tailing
Problems must be solved to use semi/un-stable foam
Foam must collapse the same across the whole width.
Foam must collapse the same to the fabric from start to end.
Conventional foam application control Holland method
Holland Method: Two pipes with outlet holes inside screen for mixing fresh and collapsed
foamsSince foam is not linear collapsing ,fresh foam and collapsed foam mixing do
not give the same chemical concentration across the width.

Suitable for stable and nearly semi-stable foam ,but still have strips ( dyestuff indicator in foam)

Conventional foam application controlMoving pipe method

Moving pipe method: Foam pipe moving across the fabric width before coating blade
Foam rolls collapsed and fresh as pipe moves leading to chemicals concentration
variation across the width.

Suitable for stable foam ,but in case of semi/un-stable foam it has zig-zag unevenness

Conventional foam application controlEnglish divided pipe control method

By dividing the main foam inlet pipe into 3 pipes ,control the pipe valves to control foam
flow across the width Still have stripes since foam is always fresh in the middle( less
chemical concentration) less fresh near the sides(high chemical concentration)
whatever adjustment of the pipe valves

Suitable for stable foam ,but in case of semi/un-stable foam shade is always lighter in the middle than
edges

Conventional foam application control German multi divided pipe method Main pipe is
divided into two , then each divided into two again..,50%/50% dividing is very difficult
to control. Foam near outlet pipe exits are fresher (chemical concentration is low) .

Suitable for stable foam ,but for semi/un-stable foam applicated foam layer has divided strips

Conventional foam application controlUS parabolic box method

Foam goes through a parabolic box with a parabolic plate in the middle, then pressed
out through a slot. Foam collapse the same across the fabric width , leads to an even
application of foam across the width.

Distances of foam moving from inlet to slot are all equal

Suitable for stable and unstable foam , even application if dyestuff put into chemical as
an indicator.

Disadvantage: Parabolic box have large space to fill and drain leading to difficulty in
cleaning and slow response of production lines. Fabric width is limited to parabolic box
width, will have high chemical concentration at edges if fabric is narrower than box
width.