Polyvinyl formal,a kind of foam material for vacuum sealing drainage,was synthesized via a mechanicalmixing and foaming approach,with polyvinyl alcohol,methanal,starch,sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and sulfu-ric acid as materials.Then,the effects of stirring speed,SDS content,curing temperature and starch dosage on thewater absorbency,tensile property,pore size and pore size distribution of the product were investigated.The resultsshow that (1) the water absorbency of the synthesized foam material increases with the SDS content ranging from 0.0 to 2.0 g; (2) the mechanical properties of the material become stable when SDS content is more than 1.0 gbut dramatically degrade with the increase of starch dosage and curing temperature; (3) higher stirring speed mayresult in smaller pore and more uniform pore size distribution; (4) more SDS may lead to more large pores and wi-der pore size distribution; and (5) the number of pores is not strictly related to starch dosage.