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Microcellular Structure (microcellular + structure)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Polymers and Materials Science	60%

Selected Abstracts

Influence of Processing Temperature on Microcellular Injection-Moulded Wood,Polypropylene Composites

MACROMOLECULAR MATERIALS & ENGINEERING, Issue 10 2006
Andrzej K. Bledzki
Abstract Summary: Microcellular wood fibre reinforced polymer materials are significant because of their possibility to reduce the density of automotive components through microcellular structure, process and product part advantages, and as a new development with bio-fibre strengthened plastics. Soft wood fibre reinforced PP composites in box part and panel shape were prepared by an injection moulding process. Polymeric microspheres as a chemical foaming agent (endothermic) were used to produce the microcellular composites. The influence of injection moulding processing temperature on the microcellular structure and properties (tensile and flexural properties, notched charpy impact strength) was investigated by varying the temperature over the 150,170,°C, 160,180,°C and 170,190,°C. A comparative study of cell morphology, weight reduction and mechanical properties was conducted between box part and panel. Microcell morphology, cell size, shape and distribution were investigated using scanning electron micrographs. The results indicated that the lower processing temperature should be below the range of 170,190,°C and processing temperature at 160,180,°C, where the composites showed finer cellular structure compared to other processing temperatures. The mechanical properties did not differ with the variation of processing temperature regardless of composite types (box part or panel). Cellular structure changes in the box part were found considering near or far from injecting point. Microcellular injection-moulded box part (geometry: 150,×,100,×,70 mm3 in size) of soft wood fibre,PP composites. [source]

Polystyrene microcellular plastic generation by quick-heating process at high temperature

POLYMER ENGINEERING & SCIENCE, Issue 7 2000
Sumarno
Generation of microcellular plastic in the polystyrene-nitrogen system was studied in a batch process. In this study, a quick-heating method was applied to study the effects of saturation temperature, decompression rate and heating time on the microcellular structure for sheet samples with a thickness of 1.3 mm. The saturation pressure in each process was kept constant at 25 MPa. At saturation temperatures above 393 K, we found that, although the solubility of nitrogen increased with increasing saturation temperature, cell density decreased, and the average cell diameter and volume expansion ratio increased. The samples that were saturated at 433 K shattered after microcellular processing. The change in decompression rate affected the supersaturation degree of the dissolved gas in the polymer, and affected the cell structure. Variation of heating time for difference saturation/heating temperature could be used to obtain the optimum relation between cell density, average cell diameter, and volume expansion ratio. [source]

Effect of nanoclay on the microcellular structure and morphology of high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) foams

ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 2 2009
M. Serry Ahmed
Abstract High internal phase emulsion (HIPE) polymerization foaming process is controlled for the production of novel foams with various microcellular structures and morphologies. In this study, two types of organoclay and one type of natural clay, sodium montmorillonite (NaMMT) were introduced at different concentrations to control the microcellular morphologies, cell sizes and open cell contents. A scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the microcellular morphologies and open cell contents; volume expansion ratio (VER) and cell sizes were evaluated. It was believed that the open cell contents increased as organoclay content increased, due to the lowering of the viscosity ratio of dispersed to continuous phases, as a result of adding nanoclay into the oil phase of emulsion. A correlation between the open cell content and VER that depended on clay content was attempted and the result was quite satisfactory. Copyright © 2008 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Relationship between cell morphology and impact strength of microcellular foamed high-density polyethylene/polypropylene blends

POLYMER ENGINEERING & SCIENCE, Issue 8 2004
Pornchai Rachtanapun
Polymer blends, such as those resulting from recycling postconsumer plastics, often have poor mechanical properties. Microcellular foams have been shown to have the potential to improve properties, and permit higher-value uses of mixed polymer streams. In this study, the effects of microcellular batch processing conditions (foaming time and temperature) and HDPE/PP blend compositions on the cell morphology (the average cell size and cell-population density) and impact strength were studied. Optical microscopy was used to investigate the miscibility and crystalline morphology of the HDPE/PP blends. Pure HDPE and PP did not foam well at any processing conditions. Blending facilitated the formation of microcellular structures in polyolefins because of the poorly bonded interfaces of immiscible HDPE/PP blends, which favored cell nucleation. The experimental results indicated that well-developed microcellular structures are produced in HDPE/PP blends at ratios of 50:50 and 30:70. The cell morphology had a strong relationship with the impact strength of foamed samples. Improvement in impact strength was associated with well-developed microcellular morphology. Polym. Eng. Sci. 44:1551,1560, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers. [source]