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Schafer Laboratories is a leader in the development of low density foam materials. These foams approach the density of air yet maintain strength due to unique mechanical and structural forces. They can be uniquely tailored to provide specific electrical, optical, structural, thermal, and acoustic properties. The foams can be cast or machined to specific geometric shapes. All of these foams are produced from solution. It is the capillary forces placed on the foam during solvent removal that determine the lowest possible density. Schafer uses a number of specialized drying techniques to minimize these forces to produce low density foams.
Foams that Schafer currently produces are summarized in the following table:
| Foam |
Density Range |
Cell Size |
Dopants |
Chemical Composition |
Production Issues |
| HIPE Polystyrene |
15-700 mg/cm3 |
1-10 microns |
Halogens
Deuterated
Physical
Dispersions |
CH |
Molded or machined to shape
Vacuum dried |
| Resorcinol-Formaldehyde Aerogel (RF) |
20-850 mg/cm3 |
nm |
Chemical modification Physical dispersions |
62 wt% C, 38 wt% O & H
Carbonized 93 wt% C |
Molded to shape
Supercritical drying
Carbonized is machined |
| Divinyl Benzene (DVB) |
15-200 mg/cm3 |
1-4 microns |
Deuterated |
C H |
Molded to shape
Supercritical Drying |
| TPX (Poly 4-methyl-1-pentene) |
3-250 mg/cm3 |
1-15 microns |
Physical dispersions Embedded objects |
CH2 |
Molded or machined (higher densities) |
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Schafer Laboratories also has specialized equipment for the characterization of these unique parts. In addition to the low density foam materials produced at Schafer, capabilities and expertise exists for depositing thin film materials using a variety of techniques. Specialized Thin Film Deposition Laboratory  Schafer Laboratories has built a comprehensive coating laboratory with multi-source sputtering and e-beam deposition systems. With our sputtering system, we can deposit precision thickness coatings down to a few nanometers thick, and deposit metallic coatings on extremely low density (= 3mg/cc) polymer foams with minimum deformation. We can also produce low stress Al foils up to 100 microns thick and resolve adhesion problems between different materials. Schafer specializes in Au, Pd, W, Al and other coatings.
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