Foaming of Recycled Crosslinked Low Density Polyethylenes via Supercritical Fluid Reactions
Hong Soon Man (1)*, Baek Bumki (1), Shin Jiwook (1), Koo Chong Min (1)
(1) Center for Materials Architecting, Korea Institute of Science and Technology - Seoul - Korea
Foaming of decrosslinked crosslinked polyethylene (DCXLPE) was investigated to assess the feasibility of recycled crosslinked polyethylene for polyolefin foam applications. DCXLPE was recycled from irradiationinduced crosslinked polyethylene using the supercritical methanol process. As the concentration of crosslinking agents increased, the gel fraction and hardness of the DCXLPE foam sheets increased, while the expansion ratio and cell size decreased. The resulting foam products not only revealed a viable foam structure and properties comparable with those of conventional polyethylene foam from virgin low-density polyethylene resin but also are expected to open new applications for recycled crosslinked polyolefin via supercritical decrosslinking reaction.