Abstract
Microcellular foamed plastic has a cell size of approximately 0.1 to 10 microns inside a foamed polymer and a cell density in the range of 109 to 1015 cells/cm3. Typically, the formation of numerous uniform cells inside a polymer can be effectively used for various purposes, such as lightweight materials, insulation and sound absorbing materials. However, it has recently been reported that these dense cell structures, which are induced through microcellular foaming, can affect the light passing through the medium, which affects the haze and permeability and causes the diffused reflection of light to achieve high diffuse reflectivity. In this study, the effects of cell size, foaming ratio and refractive index on the optical performance were investigated by applying the microcellular foaming process to three types of amorphous polymer materials. Thus, this study experimentally confirmed that the advantages of porous materials can be implemented as optical properties by providing a high specific surface area as a small and uniform cell formed by inducing a high foaming ratio through a microcellular foaming process.
Highlights
In modern industrial society, plastics are the most widely used materials owing to their various advantages, including good formability, low cost and high productivity
The microcellular foamed plastic is produced by the microcellular foaming process (MCPs), which was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the 1980s; the above-mentioned plastic is comprised of a cell size of 0.1 to 10 microns and a cell density in the range of 109 cells/cm3 to 1015 cells/cm3 [4]
The gas was dissolved in the three amorphous polymers (APET, PC, poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA)) under the pressure of 5.5 MPa induced by carbon dioxide
Summary
Plastics are the most widely used materials owing to their various advantages, including good formability, low cost and high productivity. One of the processes for manufacturing plastic molded products—namely, the foaming method—is a technology for forming micron cells inside the product. The microcellular foamed plastic is produced by the microcellular foaming process (MCPs), which was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the 1980s; the above-mentioned plastic is comprised of a cell size of 0.1 to 10 microns and a cell density in the range of 109 cells/cm to 1015 cells/cm3 [4]. MCPs can reduce the amount of raw materials used in the same volume to achieve additional energy savings through the weight reduction effect. In the MCPs [7,8,9,10], inert gases, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen are used as blowing agents to reduce the adverse environmental effects that may occur during the manufacturing process, form even finer cells and enable focus on environmentally friendly factors
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