Study of Vibration Field on Microcellular Foaming in Nucleating Agents

A novel microcellular processing experimental setup was developed in which various nucleation agents were added to foaming material (Polystyrene). The effect of the nucleation agents on cell morphology of foam plastics was studied in the vibration field. The effects of the processing conditions such as nucleating agents, particle size of the nucleating agents, content of the nucleating agents, and the vibration parameters on polystyrene cell morphology were investigated. The cell morphology was analyzed with a scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the samples blown with nucleating agents, in general, had larger cell density and much smaller cell size than the ones without nucleating agents. It is believed that the smaller nucleating agents will be helpful for the larger bubble densities and the smaller cell size. There is the optimum content range for the maximum bubble densities and the minimum average cell diameter in foaming processing with nucleating agents. In the range of vibration parameter, the cell density increases with an increase of frequency and amplitude, and the cell size is the reverse.