The foamability of low-melt-strength linear polypropylene with nanoclay and coupling agent

Mohammadreza Nofar, Kamlesh Majithiya, Takashi Kuboki, Chul B. Park*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this work, the feasibility of producing microcellular foam by using homopolymer linear polypropylene with an melt flow index of 18 g/10 min, a high melt flow index coupling agent (G3003, melt flow index of 380 g/min), and different nanoclay (Cloisite 20A) content was investigated. A twin-screw extruder was used to prepare the nanocomposite compounds, and an X-ray diffraction machine was used to characterize the intercalation and exfoliation of nanoclay within the matrix. A rheology test was undertaken to investigate the melt shear viscosity of the samples. A single-screw extruder was employed to produce foam by using 5% supercritical CO 2 at various die temperatures. Scanning electron microscopy was used to explore the morphology of the foamed samples, and cell density was calculated by scanning electron microscopy images. Density measurement data was used to calculate the expansion ratio of the foamed samples. Extrusion foaming produced foams with high expansion ratios of about 20 and a high cell density of about 10 8-9 cells/cm3. The crystallinity behavior of the foamed and unfoamed linear polypropylene and linear polypropylene nanocomposites was also investigated. A high-pressure differential scanning calorimetry was used to investigate the dependency of crystallization behavior on high pressure CO 2.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)271-287
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Cellular Plastics
Volume48
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • extrusion foaming
  • linear polypropylene
  • nanoclay

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