Numerical simulation for bubble growth during supercritical CO2 foaming epoxy resin process based on chemorheology

Abstract

AbstractThe bubble growth process of epoxy resin foams has been evaluated through a combination of numerical simulation and chemorheology. It was discovered that rheological properties play an essential role in forecasting bubble growth during supercritical CO2 epoxy resin foaming. Time–cure superposition was conducted revealing that shear storage modulus increased from 10−3 to 106 Pa during the curing reaction process. The complex viscosity increased up to 105 Pa s and the characteristic relaxation time increased up to 53.1 s with the curing degree. The epoxy resin with high rigid modulus could effectively inhibit bubble growth. Furthermore, the simulation results indicated that the bubble growth process for epoxy resin foams was influenced by both the CO2 content and CO2 plasticization on rheology properties.