Effect of die temperature on the morphology of microcellular foams

A study on the extrusion of microcellular polystyrene foams at different foaming temperatures was carried out using CO2 as the foaming agent. The contraction flow in the extrusion die was simulated with FLUENT computational fluid dynamics code at two temperatures (150degreesC and 175degreesC) to predict pressure and temperature profiles in the die. The location of nucleation onset was determined based on the pressure profile and equilibrium solubility. The relative importance of pressure and temperature in determining the nucleation rate was compared using calculations based on classical homogeneous nucleation theory. Experimentally, the effects of die temperature (i.e.. the foaming temperature) on the pressure profile in the die, cell size, cell density, and cell morphology were investigated at different screw rotation speeds (10 similar to 30 rpm). Experimental results were compared with simulations to gain insight into the foaming process. Although the foaming temperature was found to be less significant than the pressure drop or the pressure drop rate in deciding the cell size and cell density, it affects the cell morphology dramatically. Open and closed cell structures can be generated by changing the foaming temperature. Microcellular foams of PS (with cell sizes smaller than 10 mum and cell densities greater than 10(9) cells/cm(3)) are created experimentally when the die temperature is 160degreesC, the pressure drop through the die is greater than 16 MPa, and the pressure drop rate is higher than 10(9) Pa/sec.