Abstract
In the present work, foamed polypropylene (PP) composites were prepared by chemical foaming technology, and the foaming quality and impact property of the foamed PP composites were studied. The results showed that the foaming quality was significantly improved after the introduction of thermoplastic rubber (TPR) and polyolefin elastomer (POE). Meanwhile, it was found that the impact property depended on the intrinsic toughness and contribution of foams (cells) to the PP composites. Furthermore, the data regarding impact property in low temperature showed that when the temperature was between −80 and −20 °C, the impact properties of the foamed PP composites were higher than that of the unfoamed sample, which was due to the impact property being completely contributed by cells under this condition. Meanwhile, when the temperature ranged from −20 to 20 °C, the impact property of the unfoamed sample was higher, which was due to the PP matrix contributing more to the impact property under this temperature. This work significantly improved the foaming quality of foamed PP composites and provided reliable evidence for the improvement of impact property.
Highlights
Nowadays, the microfoamed polymer materials [1,2,3] have attracted increasing attention due to their excellent comprehensive properties
Kuboki et al [19] have explored the effects of cellulose content and processing condition on the foaming quality and mechanical properties of the PP foamed composites reinforced with fiber by injection molding, and the results showed that the strength, flexural modulus, and notched impact property increase with the increase of cellulose content
The foaming quality of the PP composites was obviously improved after the addition of thermoplastic rubber (TPR) or polyolefin elastomer (POE), and there was no bubble phenomenon
Summary
The microfoamed polymer materials [1,2,3] have attracted increasing attention due to their excellent comprehensive properties. Compared with traditional foamed materials, the microfoamed polymer materials possess highly specific properties, including good thermal stability, excellent sound absorption property, low thermal conductivity and dielectric constant, etc. When the microfoamed polymer materials are used as structural materials, the comprehensive properties of the materials need to be higher, especially the mechanical properties, because the foamed materials have a certain weight loss [8,11]. The mechanical properties of the microfoamed polymer structural materials are mainly determined by the morphology of cells in the material, such as the shape, diameter, density, and distribution of the cells [11,12]. Isotactic polypropylene (iPP), as a widely used semicrystalline polymer, has a considerable commercial importance owing to its numerous advantages, such as low cost, easy processing, recyclability, and excellent mechanical performances [13,14,15]. iPP has various crystalline modifications, such as α, Polymers 2018, 10, 1375; doi:10.3390/polym10121375 www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers
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