Preparation of polypropylene/high‐melt‐strength PP open‐cell foam for oil absorption

• Published in: Polymer engineering and science Vol. 61; no. 4; pp. 1139 - 1149
• Main Authors: Yeh, Shu‐Kai, Tsai, Yi‐Bei, Gebremedhin, Kiday Fiseha, Chien, Tse‐Yu, Chang, Rong‐Yu, Tung, Kuo‐Lun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.04.2021; Society of Plastics Engineers, Inc; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Absorption; blending; Chemical properties; Economic impact; foams; Oil spills; Plastic foam; Plastic foams; Polypropylene; Production processes; rheology; Taiwan
• ISSN: 0032-3888; 1548-2634
• DOI: 10.1002/pen.25654

Oil spills not only cause significant economic losses; they also harm the environment. In this study, high‐melt‐strength polypropylene (HMSPP) and linear polypropylene (PP) were compounded at different ratios and foamed by supercritical CO2 at various temperatures and pressures to develop open‐cell foams for oil absorption applications. The experimental results show that adding HMSPP increased the foam expansion ratio and the open‐cell content and that the foam processing window widened with increasing HMSPP content. The oil absorption experiment results show that the amount of oil absorption increased with the foam expansion ratio and that low oil viscosity resulted in high oil absorption. In addition, the amount of oil absorption remained unchanged after 10 cycles of oil absorption experiments. The oil absorption kinetics study shows that the oil absorption process complied with the pseudo‐second‐order law.