Experimental study on the dissolution of supercritical CO2 in PS under different agitators

Abstract

Abstract In the continuous molding of microporous plastics, the polymer/CO2 homogeneous body needs to be formed in a very short time, which affects the subsequent bubble nucleation, bubble pore distribution, and growth, and is the key to the molding. It is known that the formation time of homogeneous body is shortened during the continuous molding of microporous plastics because of the agitator’s effect. However, different agitators have different effects on the dissolution rate. So, it is necessary to study not only the dissolution of gas in polymer melt under static condition but also the dissolution under the action of the agitator. In this article, the solubility and dissolution rate of supercritical CO2 in polymer melt PS at different temperatures and pressures were experimentally investigated under conical and screw agitators, and the numerical solution was also carried out.