Lightweight glass-ceramic foams produced from silicate wastes have been characterised with regards to their thermal & mechanical properties. The level of porosity of the fabricated foams was controlled by varying the heat treatment temperature & the amount of foaming agent. Lee's Disc was used to measure the thermal conductivity of each type of foam in order to assess its potential as a thermal insulator. The most porous material, with a porosity of 90%, achieved a thermal conductivity of about 0.2Wm-1K-1. Good agreement was obtained between experimental conductivity data & simulated values obtained by a finite element analysis, which employed structural information obtained from x-ray microtomography. Mechanical properties, such as Young's modulus, flexural & crushing strength of foams of various densities, were also determined in this study.
