Reflectance According to Cell Size, Foaming Ratio and Refractive Index of Microcellular Foamed Amorphous Polymer

Microcellular foamed plastic has a cell size of approximately 0.1 to 10 microns inside a foamed polymer and a cell density in the range of 10⁹ to 10¹⁵ cells/cm³. Typically, the formation of numerous uniform cells inside a polymer can be effectively used for various purposes, such as lightweight materials, insulation and sound absorbing materials. However, it has recently been reported that these dense cell structures, which are induced through microcellular foaming, can affect the light passing through the medium, which affects the haze and permeability and causes the diffused reflection of light to achieve high diffuse reflectivity. In this study, the effects of cell size, foaming ratio and refractive index on the optical performance were investigated by applying the microcellular foaming process to three types of amorphous polymer materials. Thus, this study experimentally confirmed that the advantages of porous materials can be implemented as optical properties by providing a high specific surface area as a small and uniform cell formed by inducing a high foaming ratio through a microcellular foaming process.