Investigation of Flame Retardant rPET Foam

Abstract

The use of plastics in the food and the packaging industries continuously is increasing. In these areas of use the product’s life cycle is short, therefore it quickly turns into waste. The polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - the material that is used as beverage containers - are the material with the greatest environmental load. The physical recycling of PET bottles in large quantities was the research goal. During the work with the help of chemical foaming a closed cell structural foam from PET bottle was produced. The research was carried out with upcycling using chain extender and impact modifier additives. For industrial use a bromine-based flame retardant was used and excellent flame retardancy was achieved. Based on the results obtained, the material previously managed as waste, with the appropriate treatment can be involved into the manufacturing of new products.

Development of Poly (Lactide Acid) Foams with Thermally Expandable Microspheres

“…The density of PLA-based foam samples containing 1.4% (blue), 4.3% (yellow), 12.0% (green) D-lactide was almost the same in the investigated PBA content range. The lowest density of 0.35 g/cm 3 The density as a function of the gas content of the foaming agent shows a linear trend. The descriptive equation is ρ( ) = 1.24 − 0.0124 , R 2 = 1, where x is the gas number.…”

“…The foaming of polymers is possible mechanically (air dispersion), physically (gas injection, bead foaming, expandable microspheres), and chemically (foaming agents that generate effective gases through thermal decomposition, e.g., in the case of during polyurethane foaming) [1][2][3]. Nowadays, the polymer foam market is growing at an annual rate of about 3-6% [4], mainly because polymer foams have low weight and excellent thermal, acoustic, moisture insulating, and damping properties [5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…Due to PLA's low melt elasticity [12], melt strength [13], and slow crystallization kinetics [14], PLA extrusion foaming is challenging and has its limitations. The foam density achieved with the use of chemical foaming agents (CBA) during extrusion is higher than 0.5 g/cm 3 . For extrusion foaming of PLA with a physical blowing agent, density reduction can be made most successfully with CO 2 [15].…”

“…For extrusion foaming of PLA with a physical blowing agent, density reduction can be made most successfully with CO 2 [15]. The resulting density range is lower than 0.1 g/cm 3 , although for this, both the PLA raw material (e.g., with a chain-extender [16], a nucleating agent [17], or by post-production heat-treatment [18]) and the processing equipment need to be modified [19].…”

Evaluating the cell structure‐impact damping relation of cross‐linked polyethylene foams by falling weight impact tests

“…1 This special structure has a number of advantageous properties, the most important of which is low density, as the importance of weight reduction is constantly increasing in all industries due to the environmental regulations of recent years. 2,3 Other important advantages of polymer foams are excellent thermal 4 and sound insulation, 5 as well as the outstanding energy absorption and impact damping properties. 6 This is exploited, for example, in the automotive industry, where the instrument panel and side panels often contain a layer of polymer foam, which is designed to protect occupants in the event of collisions and accidents.…”