Abstract
Microcellular foam processing of polymers requires a nucleated cell density greater than $10^9\;cells/cm^3$ so that the fully grown cells are smaller than 10 mm. A microcellular foam can be developed by first saturating a polymer sample with a volatile blowing agent, followed by rapidly decreasing its solubility in the polymer. In general, the cellular structure of crystalline polymer foams is difficult to control, compared to that of amorphous polymer foams. Since the gas does not dissolved in the crystallites, the polymer/gas solution formed during the microcellular processing is nonuniform. Moreover, the bubble nucleation is nonhomogeneous because of the heterogeneous nature of the crystalline polymer. In this paper, the effects of the crystallinity and morphology of crystalline polymers on the microcellular foam processing and on reflectivity of products are investigated. First, polymer specimens with various morphology and amount of solved blowing agent were prepared by varying the saturation pressure, saturation time and foaming condition. Then, cell morphologies according to several conditions were studied. The specimens with differing gas amount of solved and morphologies were foamed and their cellular structures were compared. The experimental results of reflectivity are compared to raw specimen and another specimen of different experimental conditions. After the experiments, recognize whether how reflectivity changes according to solved gas amount. And the effect of cell density and cell size on reflectivity is studied
(Mecha. Eng. Dept. Yonsei Univ.)