The Effect of Pressure Drop Rate on the Microstructures of Unfilled and Glass-filled ABS Microcellular Foams

Microcellular foams are foamed plastics characterized by a cell density typically greater than 109 cells/cm3, with fully grown cells on the order of 10 μm, and a weight reduction ranging from 5 to 95%. An inert gas such as CO2 or N2 is usually used as the blowing agent. Compared to the unfoamed polymers, microcellular foams exhibit improved mechanical and physical properties, for instance, high strength-to-density, high toughness, high fatigue life, thermal properties, low dielectric constant, and reduced material weight and cost. In this paper, the influence of the saturation pressure and its drop rate on the microstructures of unfilled and glass filled ABS prepared in a batch process were investigated. Cell size distribution and cell density of foamed samples are also compared at various pressure drops and rates. The results show that although pressure drop has a significant effect on the nucleation at room temperature, its rate does not, however, affect the microstructure of the foamed samples, considerably.