Foam extrusion of high density polyethylene/wood-flour composites using chemical foaming agents

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-28-2003

Department

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science

Abstract

A one-way analysis of variance and thermal analysis were performed in this study to examine the influences of the contents, types (exothermic vs. endothermic), and forms (pure vs. masterbatch) of chemical foaming agents (CFAs), as well as the use of coupling agents, on the density reduction (or void fraction) and cell morphology of extrusion-foamed neat high density polyethylene (HOPE) and HDPE/wood-flour composites. The CFA types and forms did not affect the void fractions of both the neat HOPE and HDPE/wood-flour composites. However, a gas containment limit was observed for neat HOPE foams whereas the average cell size achieved in the HDPE/wood-flour composite foams remained insensitive to the CFA contents, irrespective of the foaming agent types. The experimental results indicated that the use of coupling agent in the formulation was required to achieve HDPE/wood-flour composite foams with high void fraction.

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Polymer Science

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