High performance plant-derived thermoplastic polyester elastomer foams achieved by manipulating charging order of...

Plant-derived thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE) is an environment friendly polymer known for its exceptional tear strength and mechanical properties, whose monomers are generated from crops. To prepare high-performance TPEE foams is still challenging due to the intrinsic shrinkage behavior. Herein, two microcellular foaming routes with different charging orders of mixed blowing agents, namely "CO₂ firstly charging process (CO₂-F-process)" and "N₂ firstly charging process (N₂-F-process)", were developed to elucidate the effects of mixed blowing agents on foaming behavior. Compared with the case in N₂-F-process, more carbon dioxide and less nitrogen were adsorbed in CO₂-F-process. Thus, TPEE foams prepared by N₂-F-process show less shrinkage and higher creep recovery ratio than those prepared by CO₂-F-process. Thanks to better structural stability and smaller shrinkage, TPEE foams prepared by N₂-F-process exhibited enhanced strength and resilience. For the foams with similar density, compression strength can be increased by 52 %, and energy loss coefficient can be reduced to 50 %, by using N₂-F-process. Thus, not only biomass TPEE foams with enhanced mechanical performance shows promising prospects in those areas that needs lightweight, insulation and high resilience, but also novel microcellular foaming technique with mixed blowing agents opens a new way for developing high-performance polymeric foams.