Abstract
The process of foaming poly(caprolactone)-based composites using supercritical carbon dioxide was analyzed. The impact of the conditions of the solid-foam production process on the process efficiency and properties of porous structures was investigated. The novel application of various types of porogens—hydroxyapatite, nanocellulose, carboxymethylcellulose, and graphene oxide—was tested in order to modify the properties and improve the quality of solid foams, increasing their usefulness in specialized practical applications. The study showed a significant influence of the foaming process conditions on the properties of solid foams. The optimal process parameters were determined to be pressure 18 MPa, temperature 70 °C, and time 1 h in order to obtain structures with appropriate properties for applications in biomedical engineering, and the most promising material for their production was selected: a composite containing 5% hydroxyapatite or 0.2% graphene oxide.
Highlights
Polymer foams are multiphase materials in which the continuous phase is a dense polymer matrix surrounding gas bubbles
Among the combinations of process parameters tested in this work, the optimum conditions for the production of solid foams with the desired properties for biomedical purposes are pressure 18 MPa, temperature 70 ◦C and time 1 h
The addition of a porogen unit leads to a decrease in the pore size and an increase in the density of the nucleation sites, mechanical strength and degree of crystallinity of the obtained porous structure compared to the foam made of pure PCL
Summary
Polymer foams are multiphase materials in which the continuous phase is a dense polymer matrix surrounding gas bubbles. Solvent casting and particle leaching, freeze-drying, thermally induced phase separation, powder-forming, sol-gel, and electrospinning are of great importance [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25] The use of these methods is associated with many advantages, such as the relatively simple operation of the research equipment and the low cost of producing the final porous structure, and involves certain restrictions, such as the need to use a large amount of harmful volatile organic solvents or the inability to use thermolabile biological compounds due to requirement for high temperatures [10,11,13,21]. An ideal summary of the considerations concerning the influence of the mold shape on the foam properties was made in [45]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
