pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S03 - Foams
Oral Presentation
 
 

Low-density Nanoporous Acrylic Medium

Saniei Mehdi (1)*, Ameli Amir (1), Hossieny Nemat (1), Park Chul (1)

(1) University Of Toronto - Toronto - Canada

Introducing cellular structure has been one of the methods of inducing functionality, such as thermal and sound insulation, to polymeric materials. Microcellular foams has been studied and developed for years to address these advantages, and more recently, nanofoams have been of great interest due to their superior properties, such as low thermal conductivity, compared to their solid and microcellular counterparts. This might be fulfilled by introducing nanocellular structure, which affects heat transfer mechanisms inside cellular materials, including thermal conduction through the gas phase as well as the cell walls and struts. In this work, low-density nanocellular foam of acrylate copolymer-based materials was achieved. An acrylate based triblock-copolymer material, poly(methyle methacrylate)-block poly(butyl acrylate)-block poly(methyle methacrylate), was also blended with poly(methyle methacrylate – co – ethyl acrylate) random copolymer to modify the nanostructure of the polymer and promote cell nucleation, and also to enhance the CO2 solubility. Carbon dioxide uptake of the samples at saturation conditions was measured. The effect of dissolved CO2 on the glass transition temperature of the processed materials and blends was investigated using high pressure differential scanning calorimetry. Two-step batch foaming process was conducted in the presence of supercritical carbon dioxide and nanofoam with the average cell size of 77 nm and the cell density of about 1014 cells/cm3 was achieved.