Why does antifreeze foam? How much do you know about its anti foaming properties?
July 31, 2023
The antifreeze circulates in the engine cooling system. During this process, the antifreeze with unqualified antifoam performance will produce a lot of foam after the intense agitation of the water pump. These foam will occupy the limited space of the cooling system with the flow of the antifreeze, causing the overflow of the antifreeze; Also, with the compression of the system pressure, the foam will burst in the low-pressure area, causing cavitation and serious damage to the cooling system. Another factor is that the foam will also deteriorate due to oxidation when the service life of the antifreeze is getting longer and longer, which will reduce its working characteristics, especially the antifreeze properties.
If the foam produced by the antifreeze is not eliminated in time, the performance of the antifreeze will be affected during the use process, which will lead to the failure of normal use, thus affecting the temperature of the whole vehicle, resulting in high temperature. During the production process, it can affect production efficiency, increase excessive costs, and pollute the surrounding environment.
So a seemingly simple anti foaming test is related to the safe operation of the engine cooling system and even the entire engine. The metal that antifreeze comes into contact with in the engine cooling system is aluminum alloy, such as aluminum alloy engine body, aluminum water pump, aluminum cylinder head, and aluminum water tank, etc. Therefore, the corrosion test of antifreeze on aluminum alloy is particularly important. In addition, if the cooling system is in a state of long-term lack of liquid, it can also cause serious pitting corrosion. If the antifreeze corrodes the aluminum alloy or causes long-term lack of liquid, the direct consequence is that the cooling system and lubrication system are leaking oil or liquid from each other. At a light level, it can cause poor engine heat dissipation and easy boiling, and at a heavy level, it can cause damage to the engine cylinder gasket and liner, and even damage to the engine. Antifreeze coolant must not be determined by looking at a so-called freezing point meter to determine its product quality. In addition to the well-known anti freezing and anti boiling measures, anti scaling, rust prevention, corrosion and anti foaming measures are indispensable. High quality products can only be produced with the support of a large amount of experimental data. The antifreeze defoamer is composed of special nitrogen-containing organic compounds and other auxiliary agents, as well as a small amount of modified polysiloxane. It is specifically designed for defoaming in the antifreeze process and has a strong defoaming and inhibiting effect. This series of products also have a strong antifoaming effect on resin compounds, macromolecular compounds and other substances, and are suitable for additives such as ethylene glycol, polyvinyl alcohol aqueous solution, styrene acrylic, pure acrylic lotion, rosin sizing agent and so on.
