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An overview of polymer foaming assisted by supercritical fluid

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Abstract

In comparison with unfoamed polymers, polymer foams find extensive application in various civil and industrial fields such as packaging, sports equipment, absorbents, and automotive components due to their advantages of lightweight, high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent insulation properties, high thermal stability, high impact strength, toughness, and long fatigue life. The preparation of conventional polymer foam typically necessitates the incorporation of chemical foaming agents into the polymer, raising environmental issues, which pave the way for the utilization of supercritical fluids. Supercritical fluids exemplified by supercritical carbon dioxide or supercritical nitrogen, are renowned for their environmentally friendly and non-toxic characteristics, thus offering a viable alternative to conventional chemical foaming agents. Supercritical fluids exhibit gas-like diffusion and liquid-like density, offering excellent plasticization effects on polymer melts. This substantially reduces the melt viscosity, melting point, and glass transition temperature of the polymer, facilitating the preparation of uniformly distributed, smaller-sized, and higher-density microcellular foams. This review first provides an overview of the characteristics of supercritical fluids and commonly used supercritical fluid foaming agents. Subsequently, the dissolution, diffusion, and interactions of supercritical fluids in polymers were discussed, followed by a focused elucidation of the cell nucleation (homogeneous and heterogeneous) and growth (island model and cell model). Finally, the application of supercritical fluids in the foam manufacturing techniques is highlighted, including batch foaming, extrusion foaming, and injection foaming, while emphasizing the challenges that still exist in polymer foaming.

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Funding

This work is financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing, China (No. cstc2020jcyj-msxmX1035) and the Doctoral Program of Chongqing, China (No. CSTB2022BSXM-JCX0167). The authors would also like to acknowledge the supports from Youth Project of Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Education Commission of China (No.KJQN202103223) and Doctoral Research Fund of Chongqing Industry Polytechnic College (2022GZYBSZK1-08).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Mold Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Chongqing Industry Polytechnic College, Chongqing, 401120, China

    Mengyao Dong, Gang Wang, Xiangning Zhang & Daqing Tan

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bengaluru-560054, India

    Jaya Prasanna Kumar D

  3. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Juanna Ren & Hua Hou

  4. Integrated Composites Lab (ICL), Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK

    Juanna Ren & Zhanhu Guo

  5. Composites Laboratory, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Calle 70 No. 52-21, Medellin, Colombia

    Henry Colorado

  6. Laboratory of Engineering Profile, Satbayev University, Satbayev St. 22a, Almaty, 050013, Kazakhstan

    Zhexenbek Toktarbay

Authors
  1. Mengyao Dong
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  2. Gang Wang
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  8. Hua Hou
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  9. Zhexenbek Toktarbay
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  10. Zhanhu Guo
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Contributions

Mengyao Dong: Conceived and designed the review, wrote the main text. Gang Wang: Formal analysis and editing. Xiangning Zhang: Formal analysis and editing. Daqing Tan: Data collection and curation. Jaya Prasanna Kumar D: Data collection and curation. Juanna Ren: Data collection and curation. Henry Colorado: Prepared figures and visualization. Hua Hou: Supervision and proofreading the manuscript. Zhexenbek Toktarbay: review and editing. Zhanhu Guo: review and editing.

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Correspondence to Mengyao Dong or Zhanhu Guo.

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Dong, M., Wang, G., Zhang, X. et al. An overview of polymer foaming assisted by supercritical fluid. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 6, 207 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-023-00790-6

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