Powder sintering and gel casting methods in making glass foam using waste glass: A review on parameters,performance, and challenges

The application of insulation materials in buildings and energy storage facilities is gaining global attention to reduce energy consumption, heat loss, and CO₂ emissions. Given the high insulation performance, glass foam is gaining popularity replacing combustible, high energy-consuming, and costly conventional insulation materials. The industrial process of glass foam manufacturing is an energy-consuming and non-ecofriendly process which requires the annealing of glass around its melting temperature. Therefore, researchers have developed powder sintering and gel casting methods to sinter glass foam mix at a temperature slightly above its glass transition point. However, research findings on these two methods are scattered because of the different parameters being used by researchers. The properties and performances of glass foam depend on the processing parameters, especially on the materials design and sintering conditions. Therefore, this study aimed to provide a comprehensive review on the key parameters for material selection and sintering of glass foams and provide necessary guidelines for the best practice and a direction for future research. Moreover, this review covers the current strategies and challenges associated with the powder sintering and gel casting methods including their sustainability and environmental performance.