THE NUCLEATION OF MICROCELLULAR THERMOPLASTIC FOAM: PROCESS MODEL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Abstract

Microcellular polymer foams exhibit greatly improved mechanical properties compared to standard foams due to the formers' small bubble size. Typical microcellular foams have bubbles with diameters on the order of 10 microns and volume reductions of 30 to 40%. The presence of these bubbles acts to increase the impact strength of a microfoamed structure to six or seven times that of solid parts of the same linear dimensions due to crack blunting and increased craze initiation in the cell walls. The first step in designing techniques to manufacture parts of microcellular foam is a complete understanding of the bubble nucleation process. To this end, a theoretical model for the nucleation of microcellular foams in thermoplastic polymers has been developed and experimentally confirmed. This model explains the effect of various additives and processing conditions on the number of bubble nucleated. At levels of secondary constituents below their solubility limits, an increase in the concentration of the additive or the concentration of gas in solution with the polymer increases the number of bubbles nucleated. Nucleation in this region is homogeneous. Above the solubility limit of additives, nucleation is heterogeneous and takes place at the interface between second phase inclusions and the polymer. The number of bubbles nucleated is dependent on the concentration of heterogeneous nucleation sites and their relative effect on the activation energy barrier to nucleation.