Phenolic Foams: The Insulating Materials to Reduce the Frost Penetration, Skidding, and Flooding Risk of Road and Airfield Pavements

The cell morphology of polymer foam shows an essential role in its functional attributes and its lightweight and thermal dependency cause diverse applications in building, utility lines, and road structures. The most used polymer materials are flexible, structural, and speciality foams. Phenolic foam, a member of speciality foam family, is produced through curing and expanding process with a composition of phenolic resin, surfactant, curing catalyst, and blowing agent. The characteristics of phenolic foams (PF) in absorbing liquids and dissipating energy through collisions and shocks urge its application in road construction and airfield pavements. This chapter discusses the physical properties and the usages and benefits of PF for road and airfield pavements in cold regions. The PF provides thermal efficiency and soft ground arrestor in pavements avoiding the over running of vehicles and aircraft. The open cell PF, as a geotextile layer in the permeable pavement systems (PPS), has also potential to retain and harvest rainwater. The PF layer under the porous friction asphalt of PPS delays the peak flow of rainwater during extreme rainfall events and minimizes the flooding risk.