• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.458-464
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• 2008

A successful scaffold should have a highly porous structure and good mechanical stability. High porosity and appropriate pore size provide structural matrix for initial cell attachment and proliferation enabling the exchange of nutrients between the scaffold and environment. In this paper the highly porous scaffold of poly(${\varepsilon}$-caprolactone) electrospun nanofibers could be manufactured with an auxiliary electrode and chemical blowing agent (BA) under several processing conditions, such as the concentration of PCL solution, weight percent of a chemical blowing agent, and decomposition time of a chemical blowing agent. To attain stable electrospinnability and blown nanofiber mats having high microporosity and large pore, a processing condition, 8wt% of PCL solution and 0.5wt% of a chemical blowing agent under $100^{\circ}C$ and decomposition time of $2{\sim}3\;s$, was used. The growth characteristic of human dermal fibroblasts cells cultured in the mats showed the good adhesion and proliferation on the blown mat compared to a normal electrospun mat.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.676-681
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• 2007

A process designed to synthesize rigid polyurethane foam (PUF) with insulative properties via the modulation of PUF cell size via the addition of clay and the application of ultrasound was assessed. The blowing agents utilized in this study include water, cyclopentane, and HFC-365mfc, all of which are known to be environmentally-friendly blowing agents. The rigid PUFs were prepared from polymeric 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (PMDI) and polyether polyol with a density of $50kg/m^3$. In addition, rigid PUFs/clay nanocomposites were synthesized with clay modified by PMDI with and without the application of ultrasound. The PUF generated using water as a blowing agent evidenced the highest tensile strength. The tensile strength of the PUF/nanocomposites was higher than that of the neat PUF and the strength was even higher with the application of ultrasound. The cell size of the PUF/clay nanocomposites was less than that of the neat PUF, regardless of the type of blowing agent utilized. It appears that the higher tensile strength and lower cell size of the PUF/clay nanocomposites may be attributable to the uniform dispersion of the clay via ultrasonic agitation. The thermal conductivity of the PUF/clay nanocomposites generated with HCFC-141b evidenced the lowest value when PUF/clay nanocomposites were compared with other blowing agents, including HFC-365mfc, cyclopentane, and water. Ultrasound has also proven effective with regard to the reduction of the thermal conductivity of the PUF/clay nanocomposites with any of the blowing agents employed in this study. It has also been suggested that the uniformly dispersed clay particles in the PUF matrix function as diffusion barriers, which prevent the amelioration of the thermal insulation property.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.52-60
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• 2001

Physical properties of foams depend on the density of foams, Physical properties of base polymers, open ceil contents, and cell structures including the size, size distribution, shape of ceil and the thickness of membrane and strut. The density of foam is affected by raw materials, concentration oi crosslinking agent and blowing agent and process parameters such as processing technique and condition. Ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer(EVA) foam is a crosslinked cellular material. The foaming characteristics and physical properties of EVA foam are affected by decomposition rate of blowing agent. In this study, the decomposition rate of blowing agent and crosslinking rate, foaming characteristics and physical properties of foams were evaluated. The slow decomposition rate of blowing agent results in low density foam, good shock absorption property and uniform cell size distribution compared to the high decomposition rate of blowing agent.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.8 no.2 s.23
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• pp.1-7
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• 2004

The physical properties of rigid polyurethane foam(PUF) synthesized using various types of blowing agents such as water, HFC-365mfc, HFC-245fa, HCFC-l4lb, CFC-11 and n-pentane were studied. The blending effect of blowing agents were also studied. The thermal conductivity, reaction rate, and cell morphology of the PUF with various blending ratio of blowing agents were investigated. The PUF blown by water shows the highest compressive strength among other single blowing agents. The thermal conductivity of PUFs blown by HFC-245fa and HFC-365mfc are close to that of PUFs blown by CFC-11. When HFC-365mfc was mixed with HFC-245fa(30mo1e$\%$) as coblowing agent, the mechanical property shows the highest value among other coblowing agents. It is that the thermal conductivity of PUFs depends on cell size of PUFs as well as thermal conductivity of blowing agent in gaseous form.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.218-223
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• 2008

In order to obtain crosslinked poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) foams with a closed-cell structure, a commercial-grade PBS was first modified in the melt using two different branching agents to increase the melt viscosity. The rheological properties of the branched and crosslinked PBS were examined by varying the amount of the branching agents. The complex viscosity of the crosslinked PBS increased with increasing amount of the branching agent. However, it decreased with increasing frequency. When 2 phr of the branching agent was added to PBS, the storage modulus (G') was higher than the loss modulus (G") throughout the entire frequency range, showing that the addition of a branching agent increases the melt viscosity and elasticity of PBS effectively. Closed-cell PBS foams were prepared by mixing the chemical blowing agent with the crosslinked PBS. The effect of the foaming conditions such as temperature and time, and the amount of the crosslinking agent on the structure of the expanded PBS foams were also investigated.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.187-194
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• 2019

Blowing film was prepared using polyester elastomer with thermally expandable microcapsule to investigate the optimum blowing properties and the film making process. Physical properties including specific gravity, blowing efficiency, foaming shape, tensile strength and elongation of polyester film were tested by varying the process condition of temperature and revolution per minutes of the extruder. The lowest specific gravity of 0.709 can be achieved with excellent foaming cells at $210^{\circ}C$ and 50 RPM conditions. The highest tensile strength and elongation was shown at $210^{\circ}C$, 100 RPM and $230^{\circ}C$, 25 RPM conditions. However, most of the prepared polyester films showed over $1kg_f/mm^2$ of tensile strength which is reasonable value to use in film applications.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2009

Rigid polyurethane foams (PUF)s were synthesized with environmentally friendly blowing agents such as a cyclopentane/distilled water (10.0/1.0, pphp) mixture and distilled water only for four different silicone surfactants having different silicone/polyether ratios. An attempt was made to reduce the thermal conductivities of the PUF samples by varying the concentration and the silicone/polyether ratio of the various silicone surfactants. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results indicated an optimum concentration of the silicone surfactant of about 1.5 to 2.5 phpp for various surfactants to reduce the cell size and lower the thermal conductivity. The silicone surfactant having a higher silicone/polymer ratio showed a smaller cell size and, therefore, demonstrated the lower thermal conductivity of the PUF samples. From the relation between the thermal conductivity and the cell size of the PUF samples, the smaller cell size improved the thermal insulation property of the rigid PUF for both the PUF samples blown by the cyclopentane/distilled water (10.0/1.0, pphp) mixture and distilled water only. If the blowing agent is fixed, then the cell size is an important factor to decrease the thermal conductivity of the PUF samples. These results indicated that rigid PUF samples having lower thermal conductivity can be obtained by choosing a silicone surfactant containing a higher silicone/polyether ratio, as well as an optimum content of the surfactant.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.208-215
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• 2023

In this study, the properties of polyurethane-polydimethylsiloxane (PU-PDMS) hybrid foams containing different types and contents of physical blowing agents (PBAs) were investigated. Two types of blowing agents, namely physical blowing agents and thermally expandable microspheres (TEM), were applied. The apparent density was measured using precisely cut foam samples, and the pore size was measured using image software. In addition, the microstructure of the foam was confirmed via scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The thermal conductivities related to the microstructures of the different foams were compared. When 0.5 phr of the hydrocarbon-based PBA was added, the apparent density and pore size of the foam were minimal; however, the pore size was larger than that of neat foam. In contrast, the addition of 3 phr of TEM effectively reduced both the apparent density and pore size of the PBAs. The increase in resin viscosity owing to TEM could enhance bubble production stability, leading to the formation of more uniform and smaller pores. These results indicate that TEM is a highly efficient PBA that can be employed to decrease the weight and pore size of PU-PDMS hybrid foams.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.30-34
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• 2016

In this study, we synthesized a phenol foam using a resol-type phenol resin as a research for replacing the polyurethane foam used as an insulator for cryogenic temperature, such as LNG or LPG. Foaming agents for synthesizing a phenolic foam was used HCFC-141b or n-pentane, cyclopentane, n-hexane, cyclohexane and a mixture of HFC-365mfc and HFC-227ea respectively. Cyclohexane as a blowing agent exhibited the most superior insulating performance and compressive strength. The heat resistance of polyurethane foam and phenolic foam blown by the cyclohexane, was higher than polyurethane foam.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 2015

Thermally expandable microcapsules (TEMs) can be expanded upon heating since the activation energy of liquid hydrocarbon at the core of the TEMs increased at high temperature. Due to this property, TEMs are widely used in the industry as blowing agents or light-weight fillers. In this article, chemical blowing agent and TEM were used for making polypropylene (PP) foams, and their mechanical properties were compared. Physical properties (tensile strength, impact strength etc.) of PP foams decreased with increasing the amount of blowing agents while weight of specimen decreased. However, PP foam produced with TEMs showed higher impact strength than the one with a chemical blowing agent. In order to figure out the difference of impact strength, the morphology of PP foamed was investigated. Expanding properties of TEM can be controlled by changing core back distance.