Experimental investigation on mechanical properties of extruded foamed PVC‐wood composites reinforced with continuous glass fibers

In this study, mechanical performances of extruded foamed and unfoamed PVC‐wood composites, reinforced with continuous glass fibers, were investigated. A specially designed die was used to incorporate the continuous glass rovings into the extruded rectangular shaped profiles. The experimental variables were the number of continuous glass rovings (0–2‐4) and the presence or absence of the chemical foaming agent. Three point bending tests as well as density measurements were conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties and density reduction upon foaming. The results showed that the flexural strength of the reinforced profiles was significantly increased, as 58% increase in flexural strength was noticed for wood plastic composites (WPCs) reinforced with four glass rovings. The highest density reduction (14%) was observed upon foaming for profiles reinforced with four glass rovings, while resulting in strength deterioration. Moreover, results revealed the remarkable effect of reinforcement on preserving mechanical performance of the foamed samples, as 88% increase in flexural strength of the foamed samples reinforced with four glass rovings was observed compared with the unreinforced foamed ones. For the foamed WPCs reinforced with even two glass rovings, the higher specific strength values were also noticed compared to the unreinforced and unfoamed samples. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:1674–1680, 2016. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Foaming of rigid PVC/wood‐flour composites through a continuous extrusion process

The effects of chemical foaming agent (CFA) types (endothermic versus exothermic) and concentrations as well as the influence of all‐acrylic processing aid on the density and cell morphology of extrusion‐foamed neat rigid PVC and rigid PVC/wood‐flour composites were studied. Regardless of the CFA type, the density reduction of foamed rigid PVC/wood‐flour composites was not influenced by the CFA content. The cell size, however, was affected by the CFA type, independent of CFA content. Exothermic foaming agent produced foamed samples with smaller average cell sizes compared to those of endothermic counterparts. The experimental results indicate that the addition of an all‐acrylic processing aid in the formulation of rigid PVC/wood‐flour composite foams provides not only the ability to achieve density comparable to that achieved in the neat rigid PVC foams, but also the potential of producing rigid PVC/wood‐flour composite foams without using any chemical foaming agents.     

Foam extrusion of high density polyethylene/wood‐flour composites using chemical foaming agents

A one‐way analysis of variance and thermal analysis were performed in this study to examine the influences of the contents, types (exothermic vs. endothermic), and forms (pure vs. masterbatch) of chemical foaming agents (CFAs), as well as the use of coupling agents, on the density reduction (or void fraction) and cell morphology of extrusion‐foamed neat high density polyethylene (HDPE) and HDPE/wood‐flour composites. The CFA types and forms did not affect the void fractions of both the neat HDPE and HDPE/wood‐flour composites. However, a gas containment limit was observed for neat HDPE foams whereas the average cell size achieved in the HDPE/wood‐flour composite foams remained insensitive to the CFA contents, irrespective of the foaming agent types. The experimental results indicated that the use of coupling agent in the formulation was required to achieve HDPE/wood‐flour composite foams with high void fraction. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 3139–3150, 2003     

Mechanical properties of extrusion‐foamed rigid PVC/wood‐flour composites

This study was conducted to characterize the mechanical properties of extrusion‐foamed neat rigid PVC and rigid PVC/wood‐flour composites by using endothermic and exothermic chemical foaming agents (CFAs). The specific elongation at break (ductility) of the samples was improved by foaming, while the opposite trend was observed for the tensile strength and modulus of the samples, regardless of the chemical foaming agent type. In addition, experimental results indicated that foaming reduced the Izod impact resistance of both neat rigid PVC and rigid PVC/wood‐flour composites but that this reduction was not statistically significant for the composites. A comparison between batch microcellular processing and extrusion foam processing was made, which demonstrated that foams with very fine cells (microcellular processed) exhibit better impact strength than foams with larger cells (extrusion processed with CFAs).     

Microcellular foams of glass–fiber reinforced poly(phenylene sulfide) composites generated using supercritical carbon dioxide

Microcellular foaming of poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) and its glass–fiber (GF) reinforced composites using supercritical CO₂ as a blowing agent presents a promising approach to produce novel cellular materials with tailored microstructures. This study investigated the effects of the material composition and process conditions on the foaming behaviors and final morphologies of the microcellular foamed PPS and PPS/GF composites. The rheological and thermal properties as well as the saturation and desorption behaviors of CO₂ in the pure PPS and PPS/GF composites were also detailedly discussed. The results show that microcellular foams with various relative densities, cell sizes, cell‐size distributions, and cell densities can be attained by tailoring the fiber content and key process parameters. At low foaming temperatures below the cold crystallization temperature, the microcellular foamed PPS and PPS/GF composites both present a unimodal cell‐size distribution. At elevated temperatures, the generated crystalline superstructures including spherulites in the polymer matrix and transcrystals around the GF will cause a secondary heterogeneous cell nucleation. This leads to the observations of bimodal and trimodal cell‐size distributions in the pure PPS and the PPS/GF composites, respectively. The mechanisms for the solid‐state foaming behaviors of pure PPS and PPS/GF composites have been illustrated by establishing theoretical models. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:2527–2540, 2016. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Manufacture of rigid PVC/wood‐flour composite foams using moisture contained in wood as foaming agent

Relatioships between the density of foamed rigid PVC/wood‐flour composites and the moisture content of the wood flour, the chemical foaming agent (CFA) content, the content of all‐acrylic foam modifier, and the extruder die temperature were determined by using a response surface model based on a four‐factor central composite design. The experimental results indicated that there is no synergistic effect between teh CFA content and the moisture content of the wood flour. Wood flour moisture could be used effectively as foaming agent in the production of rigid PVC/wood‐flour composite foams. Foam density as low as 0.4 g/cm³ was produced without the use of chemical foaming agents. However, successful foaming of rigid PVC/wood‐flour composite with moisture contained in wood flour strongly depends upon the presence of all‐acrylic foam modifier in the formulation and the extrusion die temperature. The lowest densities were achieved when the all‐acrylic foam modifier concentration was between 7 phr and 10 phr and extruder die temperature was as low as 170°C.     

Extrusion foaming behavior of a polypropylene/nanoclay microcellular foam

With maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (PP‐g‐MAH) as a compatibilizer, composites of block‐copolymerized polypropylene (B‐PP)/nanoclay were prepared. The effects of the PP‐g‐MAH and nanoclay content on the crystallization and rheological properties of B‐PP were investigated. The microcellular foaming behavior of the B‐PP/nanoclay composite material was studied with a single‐screw extruder foaming system with supercritical (SC) carbon dioxide (CO₂) as the foaming agent. The experimental results show that the addition of nanoclay and PP‐g‐MAH decreased the melt strength and complex viscosity of B‐PP. When 3 wt % SC CO₂ was injected as the foaming agent for the extrusion foaming process, the introduction of nanoclay and PP‐g‐MAH significantly increased the expansion ratio of the obtained foamed samples as compared with that of the pure B‐PP matrix, lowered the die pressure, and increased the cell population density of the foamed samples to some extent. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44094.     

Influence of foaming and carbon nanotubes on sound transmission loss of wood fiber‐low density polyethylene composites

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and foaming on sound transmission loss (STL) of wood fiber‐low density polyethylene composite. For this purpose, low density polyethylene, wood fiber, foaming agent, coupling agent and modified CNTs were mixed in an internal mixer to produce test samples. The standard circular samples were produced by using compression molding method in a hot press machine. Sound transmission loss was measured by an impedance tube. Results showed that the use of CNTs improved the foam morphology in the composites. Foaming and the use of CNTs improve the STL of composites (especially at medium and higher frequencies) and the highest STL was obtained for wood fiber/LDPE foamed composites containing 1% CNT. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 45096.     

Preparation and characterization of biodegradable foams from calcium carbonate reinforced poly(propylene carbonate) composites

Biodegradable foams were successfully prepared from calcium carbonate reinforced poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC/CaCO₃) composites using chemical foaming agents. The incorporation of inexpensive CaCO₃ into PPC provided a practical way to produce completely biodegradable and cost‐competitive composite foams with densities ranging from 0.05 to 0.93 g/cm³. The effects of foaming temperature, foaming time and CaCO₃ content on the fraction void, cell structure and compression property of the composite foams were investigated. We found that the fraction void was strongly dependent on the foaming conditions. Morphological examination of PPC/CaCO₃ composite foams revealed that the average cell size increased with increasing both the foaming temperature and the foaming time, whereas the cell density decreased with these increases. Nevertheless, the CaCO₃ content showed opposite changing tendency for the average cell size and the cell density because of the heterogeneous nucleation. Finally the introduction of CaCO₃ enhanced the compressive strength of the composite foams dramatically, which was associated with well‐developed cell morphology. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102:5240–5247, 2006     

基于废旧轮胎胶粉的热塑性弹性体的制备及发泡性能研究

通过沥青改性胶粉及采用相容剂与聚丙烯共混制备了性能优良的热塑性弹性体(TPE)材料,并以超临界流体为发泡剂对其发泡性能进行了研究。实验结果表明,胶粉通过沥青改性后,可以明显地提高TPE的拉断伸长率,并且发泡TPE的泡孔平均直径增大,泡孔密度减少,相对密度减小,但是随着沥青用量的增加,材料的粘度降低,从而出现泡孔破裂和塌陷现象,最后导致泡孔平均直径和泡孔密度减小,相对密度增加。相容剂苯乙烯嵌段共聚物接枝马来酸酐(SEBS-g-MA)可以提TPE的拉断伸长率并改善泡孔结构。温度的升高和饱和压力的增大,都导致了发泡弹性体的泡孔增大,泡孔密度和相对密度减小。     

Effects of butyl acrylate modified polypropylene on structural and thermal properties of foamed polypropylene

In this work, the melt strength of PP matrix was reinforced by crosslinking‐modified PP (CM‐PP) which was yielded by peroxide‐initiated crosslinking of linear PP with butyl acrylate (BA). The nano‐silica aerogel (nano‐SiO₂) worked as a nucleating agent for foaming. The effects of CM‐PP with the various contents of BA on the foaming behavior and thermal property of PP were studied by measurements of density, thermal conductivity, Vicat softening temperature and SEM. The results showed that the foamed PP got the best properties when the crosslinking PP modified with the weight ratio of butyl acrylate was 10 wt %. The density of the obtained foamed PP with uniform closed cells was as low as 0.23 g/cm³, the thermal conductivity was 0.044 W/(m K), and the Vicat softening temperature was 120 °C. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44340.     

Characteristics of murta bast fiber reinforced epoxy composites

The growing global concern over environment protection has led to the application of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites as alternative materials in manufacturing sectors. Various natural fibers are therefore being explored for reinforcement of polymer matrices. In the present work, murta bast fibers of varying length and weight percent are mixed randomly with the epoxy matrix and the composites are prepared from these mixtures by using the hand lay‐up method. The composites are characterized on the basis of density, thermal gravimetric analysis, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, tensile strength, flexural strength, compressive strength, impact strength, and Rockwell hardness studies. Tensile, flexural, and compressive moduli of the composites are also determined. The tensile strength of the composite was analyzed in the light of the different analytical models. Composites containing 30 weight % fibers of length 25 or 35 mm have the optimum mechanical properties. Murta bast fiber has the characteristics to become a good natural material for reinforcement. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44142.     

注塑成型低发泡PP的研究

采用注塑成型工艺制备了聚丙烯(PP)低发泡材料,分别探讨了发泡剂、交联剂用量及填料对PP发泡材料拉伸强度、缺口冲击强度、硬度、密度及热变形温度等性能的影响,并用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)对泡孔结构进行了观察。结果表明:当发泡剂用量为0.5phr,交联剂用量为0.05phr及CaSO4填充母料用量为10phr时,PP低发泡材料的综合性能最佳。     

Foaming of PS/wood fiber composites using moisture as a blowing agent

This paper presents an experimental study on foam processing of polystyrene (PS) and high‐impact polystyrene HIPS/wood‐fiber composites in extrusion using moisture as a blowing agent. Wood‐fiber inherently contains moisture that can potentially be used as a blowing agent. Undried wood‐fiber was processed together with PS and HIPS materials in extrusion and wood‐fiber composite foams were produced. The cellular morphology and volume expansion ratios of the foamed composites were characterized. Because of the high stiffness of styrenic materials, moisture condensation during cooling after expansion at high temperature did not cause much contraction of the foamed composite and a high volume expansion ratio up to 20 was successfully obtained. The experimental results showed that the expansion ratio could be controlled by varying the processing temperature and the moisture content in the wood fiber. The effects of a small amount of a chemical blowing agent and mineral oil on the cell morphologies of plastic/wood‐fiber composite foams were also investigated.     

Extrusion of polystyrene nanocomposite foams with supercritical CO2

Intercalated and exfoliated polystyrene/nano‐clay composites were prepared by mechanical blending and in situ polymerization respectively. The composites were then foamed by using CO₂ as the foaming agent in an extrusion foaming process. The resulting foam structure is compared with that of pure polystyrene and polystyrene/talc composite. At a screw rotation speed of 10 rpm and a die temperature of 200°C, the addition of a small amount (i.e., 5 wt%) of intercalated nano‐clay greatly reduces cell size from 25.3 to 11.1 μm and increases cell density from 2.7 × 10⁷ to 2.8 × 10⁸ cells/cm³. Once exfoliated, the nanocomposite exhibits the highest cell density (1.5 × 10⁹ cells/cm³) and smallest cell size (4.9 μm) at the same particle concentration. Compared with polystyrene foams, the nanocomposite foams exhibit higher tensile modulus, improved fire retardance, and better barrier property. Combining nanocomposites and the extrusion foaming process provides a new technique for the design and control of cell structure in microcellular foams.     

微孔发泡聚乳酸/木纤维复合材料的泡孔结构

引言聚乳酸(PLA)因具有环境友好性和降解性而被用于制备不同泡孔结构的泡沫制品[1],然而PLA呈现低的熔体强度和窄的加工窗口,这不利于以超临界流体(如超临界二氧化碳Sc-CO2)发泡制备微孔PLA材料[2-3]。加入填料(如二氧化硅[4]、羟基磷灰石[5]和蒙脱土[6]等)可改善PLA     

Foamability and viscosity behavior of extrusion foamed PLA–pulp fiber biocomposites

This study addresses the effect of fiber reinforcement, chain extension, and physical foaming agent type on foam morphology and viscosity behavior of pulp fiber reinforced poly(lactic acid) (PLA) biocomposites. PLA reinforced with 0, 10, and 20 wt % of bleached kraft pulp fibers with and without chain extender were foamed using two different physical foaming agents (carbon dioxide and isobutane) by extrusion foaming. Densities, foam morphologies, and viscosities were systematically analyzed and compared from the produced foams. As a conclusion, low-density foams are produced with both foaming agents and fiber levels, fiber addition limiting cell growth. Isobutane provides better dimensional stability with narrower cell size distribution, whereas carbon dioxide enables lower foaming temperature. Chain extension is essential to achieve foam with low density and good cell structure. Contrary to nonchain extended PLA, addition of fibers reduced the viscosity of chain extended PLA. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 48202.     

工业废渣复合胶凝材料泡沫轻质土制备及性能

为促进工业废渣资源化循环利用,制备工业废渣复合再生胶凝材料(RC)及相应泡沫轻质土。利用松香树脂类、蛋白类两种发泡剂和表面活性剂经高速剪切混溶制备复合类发泡剂,通过不同发泡剂种类、搅拌转速和搅拌时间下的RC泡沫土流动度、湿密度和抗压强度优选最佳工艺,不同湿密度和龄期下抗压强度对比RC泡沫土和水泥泡沫土力学性能,干缩和冻融循环试验对比RC泡沫土和水泥泡沫土耐久性,借助XRD分析RC泡沫土成分。结果表明,复合类发泡剂融合了松香树脂类发泡剂稳定性好和蛋白类发泡剂发泡倍数高的优势,RC泡沫土制备过程最佳搅拌转速为200 r/min,搅拌时间为2 min。RC和水泥两种泡沫土流动度均满足规范要求,初期抗压强度相当;随着龄期增加,RC泡沫土强度增长幅度高于水泥泡沫土,28 d和56 d龄期时RC泡沫土强度为水泥泡沫土强度的1.21倍和1.35倍。相同条件下RC泡沫土抗干缩和抗冻融性能优于水泥泡沫土。RC水化产物中增加了钙矾石,且水化硅酸钙含量高于水泥水化产物。     

Solid‐state foaming of isotactic polypropylene and its composites with spherical or fibrous poly(butylenes terephthalate)

In this article, the foaming behavior of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and its composites with spherical or fibrous poly(butylenes terephthalate) (PBT) using supercritical CO₂ as a blowing agent were investigated. Their foaming performances were also compared in relation to the crystal morphology and rheological behavior of PP. Results demonstrate that crystal structures significantly impacted the cell structures of foams. At relatively low temperature, microcells appeared at the centers of PP spherulites where the melting started. Particularly, bi‐modal cell structure formed in the foamed PP with increasing temperature. However, in the foamed PP composites with spherical or fibrous PBT, this structure almost disappeared due to the smaller PP spherulites. In foaming PP/PBT composites, the heterogeneous nucleation of spherical or fibrous PBT was effective at reducing cell size as well as improving cell density and cell uniformity. The fibrous PBT also acted as scaffolds for preserving cell shapes. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41801.     

Influence of Micro- and Nanonatural Fillers on Mechanical and Physical Properties of Foamed SMA Composites

This study is to investigate the reinforcing effects of fillers on mechanical and physical properties of foamed styrene-maleic anhydride (SMA) composites. According to the results, the best foaming was determined for starch reinforced SMA composite. The best result of expansion ratio was found as 22.75% to SMA/starch composites. Stereo light microscopy results demonstrated that the foamed cell distribution is heterogeneous and composed of two sections. The minimum density was found as 0.64 g/cm³ for foamed SMA/starch composites. Mechanical properties of all foamed composites were found to be low as compared to neat SMA composite.