Study of Presence of Al2O3 Nanoparticles and Temperature on Foaming Behavior of Polystyrene - Al2O3 Nanocomposite

In this research, polystyrene foam is produced by batch process and saturation of inert gas to achieve a sudden thermodynamic instability. Also, foaming process of polystyrene aluminum oxide nanocomposite (as nucleating agent) with supercritical N2 (as foaming agent), nucleating condition, growth and mean size of bubbles is investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and compared with pure polystyrene sample. So, the cluster growth rate and bubble size in nanocomposite are compared with pure polystyrene. Results showed that presence of nanoparticles decreased the final size and growth rate of bubbles. Also, the size and distribution of bubbles in nanocomposites foams were more uniform than pure polystyrene foam.