(A) study on cell development of polypropylene bead foam depending on melt behavior of foaming condition

Abstract

The researches on weight reduction became issue in the automobile industry concerting environmental issues and effectiveness. Many materials with excellent physical properties have been proposed, but further weight reduction of existing materials is under consideration. Polypropylene is widely used because of its light weight and excellent physical properties with cost effectiveness. If the foaming process is combined with polypropylene, it can be expected to contribute to the weight reduction at a relatively low cost. In this thesis, we aimed to investigate the polypropylene bead foaming process, which can produce complex shapes during foaming and produce lower densities. The suitable temperature for the processing was investigated based on the material. The changes in the behavior of the foam and the process conditions of the material were investigated with foaming experiments in a pilot scale process. Future research will design materials appropriate for the bead foaming process and utilize them as conditions for processing uniform foams.