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Microcellular foaming behavior of ether- and ester-based TPUs blown with supercritical CO2

  • Bige Batı , Emine Büşra Küçük , Ali Durmuş ORCID logo and Mohammadreza Nofar ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: August 8, 2020
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Journal of Polymer Engineering
From the journal Journal of Polymer Engineering Volume 40 Issue 7

Abstract

The bead foaming behavior of ether- and an ester-based Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) resins were investigated in a lab-scale reactor using supercritical CO2 as the blowing agent. The samples were saturated at various saturation temperatures and the effects of hard segment crystallization during the saturation on the foaming behavior of the TPU samples were explored. The results revealed that the different HS crystallization tendencies and possible CO2 solubility differences in two TPU grades led to their different foaming behaviors. The ester-based TPU could be foamed within a wider saturation temperature range and revealed an easier cell growth and foam expansion while the ether-based TPU showed a more limited cell growth behavior and hence processing window. The effect of pre-annealing and hence the isothermally induced HS crystallization on the foaming behavior of the ether-based TPU and the influence of depressurization rate on the foaming behavior of ester-based TPU was also explored.

Keywords: crystallization; foaming; hard segment; supercritical CO2; TPU
Corresponding author: Mohammadreza Nofar, Polymer Science and Technology Program, Institute of Science and Technology, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, Istanbul, 34469, Turkey; and Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, Istanbul, 34469, Turkey, E-mail:

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to greatly appreciate the Global Research group of Huntsman Polyurethanes (Huntsman Polyurethanes-Belgium) for kindly supplying the materials and sponsoring the project. We would also like to acknowledge the contributions made by the scientists from Huntsman Polyurethanes, specifically Dr. Rene Klein, Ms. Conny Nijs, and Mr. Giovanni Tomei. The authors would also like to sincerely thank Professor Mustafa Urgen and Professor Kursat Kazmanli from Istanbul Technical University for their support by providing their lab space to run SEM experiments.

  1. Author contribution: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Received: 2020-01-21
Accepted: 2020-04-27
Published Online: 2020-08-08
Published in Print: 2020-08-27

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

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  3. Effects of ethanol content on the properties of silicone rubber foam
  4. Swelling behavior and mechanical properties of Chitosan-Poly(N-vinyl-pyrrolidone) hydrogels
  5. Microcellular foaming behavior of ether- and ester-based TPUs blown with supercritical CO2
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https://doi.org/10.1515/polyeng-2020-0014
Keywords for this article
crystallization; foaming; hard segment; supercritical CO2; TPU

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Material properties
  3. Effects of ethanol content on the properties of silicone rubber foam
  4. Swelling behavior and mechanical properties of Chitosan-Poly(N-vinyl-pyrrolidone) hydrogels
  5. Microcellular foaming behavior of ether- and ester-based TPUs blown with supercritical CO2
  6. Influence of chain interaction and ordered structures in polymer dispersed liquid crystalline membranes on thermal conductivity
  7. Experimental investigations on compressive, impact and prediction of stress-strain of fly ash-geopolymer and portland cement concrete
  8. Preparation and assembly
  9. Fabrication of poly (1, 8-octanediol-co-Pluronic F127 citrate)/chitin nanofibril/bioactive glass (POFC/ChiNF/BG) porous scaffold via directional-freeze-casting
  10. Engineering and processing
  11. Continuous reactors of frontal polymerization in flow for the synthesis of polyacrylamide hydrogels with prescribed properties
  12. Effect of slot end faces on the three-dimensional airflow field from the melt-blowing die
  13. Experimental and numerical study of the crushing behavior of pultruded composite tube structure
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