Porous materials have specific properties, such as high surface area, high permeability, lightweight, and low thermal conductivity. In foaming process of thermoplastics, high melt viscosity is indispensable. Neither poly(lactic acid) (PLA) nor poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) has sufficient melt viscosity. In this manuscript, Organophilic montmorillonite (OMMT) was employed to improve the foaming performance PLA/PBS blends. Mechanical tests were undertaken to compare the performance change of PLA/PBS foams before and after reinforcement of OMMT. The compression feature of PLA/PBS foams was discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopes were performed to investigate the interaction between OMMT and PLA/PBS foams and the influence of OMMT on cell structure. The results indicated that OMMT can improve the effect of foaming markedly. With 3 wt % OMMT, The compressive strength, flexural strength, and impact strength raised up to 9.2 MPa, 14.0 MPa, and 31.2 kJ/m 2 , respectively, and the average size of cells changed from 475.6 to 261.4 mm. FT-IR, TGA, and XRD analysis suggested that CTAC has inserted into the Na-MMT platelets and OMMT platelets are more likely to be intercalated or completely separated in PLA/PBS matrix. V C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40773.

Polylactic acid (PLA)-based foam composites reinforced with hollow glass beads (HGBs) were prepared via a two-step process. First, the glass beads, PLA, foaming agent, and other additives were blended, supplanted, and pelletized. Second, the foaming masterbatch was introduced into the mold using thermocompressor to make the microfoam composites. The foam morphology, mechanical properties, and heat resistance were investigated. The experimental results show that the compressive strength of the composites achieved an optimal value when the mass fraction of HGBs was 15%, and that the elastic modulus of the composites increases with increasing bead contents. In addition, after doing a comparative analysis of composites with different bead contents, it was discovered that the foam morphology quality became more uniform and fine with the addition of the beads. Finally, it was found that inclusion of the beads enhanced the thermal stability of the composites and improved their thermal decomposition temperature by about 50 C. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:692-699,

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