Effect of Additives on the Foam Behavior of Aviation Coolants: Tendency, Stability, and Defoaming

Abstract

The foam tendency of aviation coolants (ACs) can be greatly influenced by additives. This study investigates the effect of additives on foam behaviors based on four commercial ACs and glycol aqueous solutions added with different additives. Experimental results show that the foam tendency of ACs can be greatly influenced by surfactants; however, inorganic salts have little effect on foam tendency. The volume of generated foam reaches up to 350 mL after ventilation for an AC with a surfactant, much larger than 40 mL of an AC with an inorganic salt. The surface tension of ACs reduces with the addition of surfactants, the lower the surface tension, the more the foam formation. Furthermore, the presence of arranged surfactants at the gas-solution interface can increase the intermolecular forces and enhance the liquid and viscosity of film elasticity, thereby enhancing the foam stability. Besides, the surfactants would weaken the gas diffusion of foams and affect the defoaming property of ACs accordingly.