Effect of gas saturation conditions on the expansion ratio of microcellular poly(lactic acid)/wood-flour composites
Poly(lactic acid) or PLA and PLA/wood-flour composites were microcellular foamed with CO2 through a batch foaming process. Specifically, the gas saturation pressure and time varied during processing to produce PLA foams with a high expansion ratio. A ten fold expansion ratio resulted in microcellula...
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| Format: | Article |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
2010-10-01
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| Series: | eXPRESS Polymer Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.expresspolymlett.com/letolt.php?file=EPL-0001615&mi=cd |
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| Summary: | Poly(lactic acid) or PLA and PLA/wood-flour composites were microcellular foamed with CO2 through a batch foaming process. Specifically, the gas saturation pressure and time varied during processing to produce PLA foams with a high expansion ratio. A ten fold expansion ratio resulted in microcellular foamed PLA over unfoamed counterpart. The foaming conditions associated with such a high expansion ratio involved a lower gas saturation pressure up to 2.76 MPa, which corresponds to a critical gas concentration of approximately 9.4%. Beyond this critical value, foam expansion decreased significantly. Investigations also studied the effect of incorporating wood flour on the foamability of the resulting PLA/wood-flour composites. The addition of wood flour into the PLA matrix significantly affected the expansion ratio of PLA/wood-flour composite foams. |
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| ISSN: | 1788-618X |