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Cyclic olefin copolymer–silica nanocomposites foams

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Abstract

A cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) matrix was melt compounded with various amounts of fumed silica nanoparticles (1, 3 and 5 vol%) and the resulting materials were foamed through supercritical carbon dioxide. Foams were produced at four different foaming pressures (90, 110, 130, and 150 bar), keeping all other processing parameters constant. The main physical properties of both bulk and foamed samples were investigated in order to assess the role of both nanofiller content and foaming pressure. It was observed that the density values of the foamed materials decreased as the foaming pressure increased and that the presence of nanofillers leads to slightly denser materials. Both scanning and transmission electron microscopy evidenced the presence of filler aggregates on the bulk composites. These aggregates resulted to be elongated along the cell wall direction upon foaming. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, quasi-static tensile tests, and creep tests evidenced a positive effect played by nanosilica in improving the stiffness, the strength, and the creep stability of the polymer matrix for all foaming pressures. The application of a theoretical model for closed-cell foams highlighted how the stiffening effect provided by the nanosilica networking is mostly effective at elevated filler amounts and reduced foaming pressure values.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mr. Marco Schintu for his support to the experimental work and Prof. Claudio Migliaresi, Director of the BIOtech center of Mattarello (Italy), for courtesy allowing the usage of the scCO2 plant. This research activity has been partly founded by the University of Trento through the strategic project 2014 “Mechanical and dynamical properties of disordered materials: from colloids to polymer nanocomposites.” The work at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within the National Sustainability Program I (NPU I), project POLYMAT LO1507.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering and INSTM Research Unit, University of Trento, via Sommarive 9, 38123, Trento, Italy

    Alessandro Pegoretti, Andrea Dorigato & Andrea Biani

  2. Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Heyrovsky Sq. 2, 162 06, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Miroslav Slouf

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  1. Alessandro Pegoretti
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  2. Andrea Dorigato
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  3. Andrea Biani
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  4. Miroslav Slouf
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Correspondence to Alessandro Pegoretti.

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Pegoretti, A., Dorigato, A., Biani, A. et al. Cyclic olefin copolymer–silica nanocomposites foams. J Mater Sci 51, 3907–3916 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9710-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9710-9

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