The synergy of supercritical CO2 and supercritical N2 in foaming of polystyrene for cell nucleation |
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| Affiliation: | 1. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for Nonmetal Composites and Functional Materials, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China;2. Institute of Chemical Materials, CAEP, Mianyang 621900, China;1. Center for Applied Research on Polymers and Composites, CREPEC, Chemical Engineering Department, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;2. Center for Applied Research on Polymers and Composites, CREPEC, Mechanical Engineering Department, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;3. Microcellular Plastics Manufacturing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;1. Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250061, China;2. Microcellular Plastics Manufacturing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G8, Canada;3. Center of Precision Engineering, School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150001, China;4. Key Laboratory of Chinese Education Ministry for Tropical Biological Resources, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan 570228, China;1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Materials Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, PR China;2. Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, PR China;3. Innovo Packaging (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Shanghai, PR China |
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| Abstract: | This study examines the foaming behaviour of polystyrene (PS) blown with supercritical CO2–N2 blends. This is achieved by observing their foaming processes in situ using a visualization system within a high-temperature/high-pressure view-cell. Through analyzing the cell nucleation and growth processes, the foaming mechanisms of PS blown with supercritical CO2–N2 blends have been studied. It was observed that the 75% CO2–25% N2 blend yielded the highest cell densities over a wide processing temperature window, which indicates the high nucleating power of supercritical N2 and the high foam expanding ability of supercritical CO2 would produce synergistic effects with that ratio in batch foaming. Also, the presence of supercritical CO2 increased the solubility of supercritical N2 in PS, so the concentration of dissolved supercritical N2 was higher than the prediction by the simple mixing rule. The additional supercritical N2 further increased the cell nucleation performance. These results provide valuable directions to identify the optimal supercritical CO2–N2 composition for the foaming of PS to replace the hazardous blowing agents which are commonly used despite their high flammability or ozone depleting characteristics. |
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| Keywords: | Plastic foam Polystyrene Supercritical carbon dioxide Supercritical nitrogen Nucleation Blowing agent blend |
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