Research Initiation: Net - Shape Manufacture of PolyethyleneTeraphthalate Foam Parts

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Microcellular foam refers to plastics with closed cells on the order of 10 micrometer in diameter. A remarkable new foam material has recently been produced by using carbon dioxide to foam a physic known as PET. The resulting foam possesses high strength, stiffness, and toughness, and may open the way for use of microcellular foams in load-bearing applications. The goal of this research is to synthesize a novel manufacturing process to produce microcellular PET parts, by defining the conditions under which the polymer must be processed. Deformation in the foaming cycle will be integrated such that three dimensional parts may be produced while preserving the fragile microstructure. The basic idea is to seek a processing strategy that uncouples the deformation process from the cell nucleation and the polymer crystallization processes. The unique role of carbon dioxide in inducing crystallization in PET during the foaming process will be studied using the electron microscopy techniques. Differential Thermal Analysis will be used to determine the extent of crystallization as a function of gas concentration. The extent of coupling between the process functional requirements will be studied experimentally. Finally, an uncoupled process that will allow independent control of microstructure (average cell size and density), degree of crystallinity in the foam, and the part geometry, will be synthesized.