Scholarlink

<p>Thermoplastic polyether ester elastomer (TPEE) foams fabricated using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO<sub>2</sub>) as a physical blowing agent exhibit promising potential for enhancing material lightweighting and resilience performance. However, the poor dimensional stability of TPEE foams limits their industrial applications, primarily due to the pronounced relaxation behavior of the polyether soft segments in TPEE at room temperature and the pressure differential between the interior and exterior of the cells caused by the significant diffusion rate disparity between CO<sub>2</sub> and air. To address the shrinkage issue of TPEE foams, this study focuses on these two shrinkage mechanisms and successfully prepares TPEE microcellular foams with excellent dimensional stability by melt-blending TPEE with polypropylene (PP) and carbon nanofiber-modified polypropylene (PP/CNF), respectively, using scCO<sub>2</sub> as the blowing agent. Under foaming conditions at 140&#xa0;°C, the TPEE/PP10 foam achieves an expansion ratio of 18.6 with a shrinkage rate of only 15.5%, while the TPEE/PP/CNF10 foam exhibits an expansion ratio of 20.0 and a remarkably low shrinkage rate of 5.3%. These results represent significant improvements compared to pure TPEE foam, which shows merely an 8.7 expansion ratio and a high shrinkage rate of 62.7%. The incorporation of PP and CNF not only reduces cell size to varying degrees but also induces a synergistic effect through altered crystallization behavior and the reinforcing effect of CNF at the cell walls. This synergy effectively suppresses molecular chain relaxation while substantially enhancing the cell walls’ resistance to gas pressure differentials.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Synergistic effects of polypropylene and carbon nanofibers on shrinkage reduction in scCO2-foamed thermoplastic polyether ester elastomer composites

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年7月28日

查看全文
  • Yi Li,
  • Zongquan Gu,
  • Qingmiao Wang,
  • Yingchun Zang,
  • Li Zhang

摘要

Thermoplastic polyether ester elastomer (TPEE) foams fabricated using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) as a physical blowing agent exhibit promising potential for enhancing material lightweighting and resilience performance. However, the poor dimensional stability of TPEE foams limits their industrial applications, primarily due to the pronounced relaxation behavior of the polyether soft segments in TPEE at room temperature and the pressure differential between the interior and exterior of the cells caused by the significant diffusion rate disparity between CO2 and air. To address the shrinkage issue of TPEE foams, this study focuses on these two shrinkage mechanisms and successfully prepares TPEE microcellular foams with excellent dimensional stability by melt-blending TPEE with polypropylene (PP) and carbon nanofiber-modified polypropylene (PP/CNF), respectively, using scCO2 as the blowing agent. Under foaming conditions at 140 °C, the TPEE/PP10 foam achieves an expansion ratio of 18.6 with a shrinkage rate of only 15.5%, while the TPEE/PP/CNF10 foam exhibits an expansion ratio of 20.0 and a remarkably low shrinkage rate of 5.3%. These results represent significant improvements compared to pure TPEE foam, which shows merely an 8.7 expansion ratio and a high shrinkage rate of 62.7%. The incorporation of PP and CNF not only reduces cell size to varying degrees but also induces a synergistic effect through altered crystallization behavior and the reinforcing effect of CNF at the cell walls. This synergy effectively suppresses molecular chain relaxation while substantially enhancing the cell walls’ resistance to gas pressure differentials.

Graphical abstract