Influence of Solvents on Morphology of Microcellular Polystyrene Foams Prepared by Supercritical CO2.

0455029 - ÚCHP 2016 FR eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Nistor, A. - Topiař, Martin - Kosek, J.
Influence of Solvents on Morphology of Microcellular Polystyrene Foams Prepared by Supercritical CO2.
Abstracts Book. -: -, 2015 - (Antoch, J.), s. 1352. ISBN 978-2-910239-82-4.
[European Congress of Chemical Engineering 2015 - ECCE /10./. Nice (FR), 27.09.2015-01.10.2015]
Institutional support: RVO:67985858
Keywords : microcellular polystyrene foams * depressurizing * bubbles
Subject RIV: CI - Industrial Chemistry, Chemical Engineering
http://www.ecce2015.eu/program/synopsis-program

In this work, we investigate the effect of various solvents on the morphology of microcellular polystyrene (PS) foams blown by supercritical CO2. Microcellular polymer foams have cell sizes below 10 μm. For such small cell sizes the nano-scale transport effects start to play an important role. As a consequence, microcellular foams have improved heat and acousticinsulation properties that strongly depend on the foam porosity and cell size. During the rapid depressurizing of the CO2-impregnated polymer by the pressure induced foaming (PIF) the system crosses fast the glass transition temperature (Tg) and the nucleated sub-micrometre bubbles do not grow. As result the prepared foams have a low porosity. This problem could be overcome by impregnating the polymer first with a solvent which will decrease the Tg of the system. By controlling the Tg we can increase the porosity and prepare products with desired morphology and properties.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0255677