| Abstract: | Producing polypropylene (PP) foams with satisfactory cell morphologies in rotational foam molding is feasible. However, the narrow interval between the melting temperature of PP and the onset decomposition temperature of the applicable chemical blowing agent (CBA), and the relatively low melt strength of PP at elevated temperatures are considered the greatest obstacles in processing PP foams. The experimental results revealed that the morphology of the foams obtained by processing PP pellets that have been pre‐compounded with a CBA could be governed by either pellet sintering or cell coalescence. The viscosity of the basic PP resin and the processing temperature determine which of these two key factors will assume a predominating influence towards the foaming process. The desired volume expansion ratio (VER) of the foam also plays an important role since it determines the formulation of the foamable resin and the shot size. Desirable PP foam structures in compounding based rotational foam molding can be obtained only if pellet sintering takes place prior to the decomposition of the CBA and if the processing temperature during the foaming process is kept lower than the temperature of cell coalescence. |
