Nanocellular Foams of PS/PMMA Polymer Blends

✍ Scribed by Tetsuo Otsuka; Kentaro Taki; Masahiro Ohshima

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 280 KB
• Volume: 293
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1438-7492
• DOI: 10.1002/mame.200700257

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A nanocellular PS/PMMA polymer blend foam was prepared, where bubble nucleation was localized in the PMMA domains. The blend, which contains dispersed nanoscale PMMA islands, was prepared by polymerizing MMA monomers in a PS matrix to form highly dispersed PMMA domains in the PS matrix by diffusion mixing. The resulting blend was foamed with CO~2~ at room temperature. A higher depressurization rate at lower foaming temperature made the bubble diameter smaller and the bubble density larger, and a higher PS composition in the blend resulted in a larger bubble density. A void with 40–50 nm in average diameter and a pore density of 8.5 × 10^14^ cm^−3^ was obtained as for the finest nanocellular foams.

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