Production of Nanocellular Foams using Nanosilica

Nanocellular foams are considered as a new class of foams with unique properties. In this study, we tend to control the cell density of foam by silica nanoparticles and production of nanocellular foam by adding more amounts of nanosilica. Therefore, the increment of silica nanoparticles through heterogeneous nucleation and increase in cell density was the method employed in this study to prepare nanocellular foams. Polystyrene/nanosilica nanocomposites with 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 weight percentage of nanoparticles made using solution mixing method. Then the nanocomposites foamed at the saturation pressure of 20Mpa and the temperature of 70 °C in a high pressure autoclave. The results showed that while nanoparticles amount increase from 1 to 10% wt., cell density of foam increases from 1.5*1014 to 1.51*1015 cell/cm3. In other words, with increases of nanoparticles amount cell density increases due to increase heterogeneous cell nucleation and finally leads to nanocellular foam

Keywords:

Batch Foaming , Nanocellular foam , heterogeneous Nucleation , Nanosilica , Polystyrene