Surface roughness and foam morphology of cellulose acetate sheets foamed with 1,3,3,3‐tetrafluoropropene

Abstract

Cellulose acetate (CA) is a bio-based polymer suitable to replace foamed polystyrene (PS) in packaging applications. Foam trays can be produced by thermoforming of extruded sheets foamed with physical blowing agents. In this paper, the effects of various process settings and the calibration of the sheet on foam morphology and surface quality of extruded CA sheets are presented. Different contact cooling options were applied in order to investigate their influence on surface roughness, density, and morphology of the sheets. By adjusting cooling parameters, blowing agent formulation, and process settings, smooth foam sheets with a surface roughness below 10 µm and a density in the range of 150 kg m−3 were produced

Bio- and Fossil-Based Polymeric Blends and Nanocomposites for Packaging: Structure–Property Relationship

“…Because CA is expandable in a similar way to polystyrene, there are available studies in which surface roughness and foam morphology of cellulose acetate sheets have been compared with PS [235], and a few papers are present on their blending [236,237].…”

Modeling and analysis of the process of polymeric film cooling on the drum with a liquid cooling agent

“…An analysis of publications on the production of flat polymeric films [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] showed that majority of them are devoted to numerical and experimental modeling of separate stages of their production process. The focus on the process of preparation of polymer melt in the extruder [7][8][9][10], as well as the process of orientation of semi-finished film on the section from the extrusion head to the cooling drum [11][12][13][14][15][16].…”

“…In research [19], analysis of the effect of drum temperature on the structure of the resulting polymeric material was carried out, however, analysis of mutual influence of polymer and the drum on a change in their temperature was not considered.…”

A study on fabrication of nanocomposite polyethylene foam through extrusion foaming procedure

“…10 Nanomaterials not only improve the morphology and properties of solid polymers but also act as a nucleating agent in the foaming process of these polymers which leads to the decrease of cell size and increase of cell density. [11][12][13][14][15] The first development of microcellular foams was carried out in the early 1980s using the solid-state foam method. 16 After the introduction of microcellular foams by Martini et al 17 in 1981, in 1993, Park 18 researched microcellular foam production systems.…”