Extrusion Parameters for Foaming of a β-Glucan Concentrate
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2019

Plastics is a group of materials commonly encountered on a daily basis by many people. They have enabled rapid, low-cost manufacturing of products with complicated geometries and have contributed to the weight reduction of heavy components, especially when produced into a foamed structure. Despite the many advantages of plastics, some drawbacks such as the often fossil-based raw-material and the extensive littering of the material in nature, where it is not degraded for a very long time, needs to be dealt with. One way to address at least one of the issues could be to use polymers from nature instead of fossil-based ones. Here, a β-glucan concentrate originating from barley was investigated. The concentrate was processed into a foam by hot-melt extrusion, and the processing window was established. The effect of different blowing agents was also investigated. Water or a combination of water and sodium bicarbonate were used as blowing agents, the latter apparently giving a more uniform pore structure. The porous structure of the foamed materials was characterized mainly by using a combination of confocal laser scanning microscope and image analysis. The density of the samples was estimated and found to be in a similar range as some polyurethane foams. A set of 3D parameters were also quantified on two selected samples using X-ray microtomography in combination with image analysis, where it was indicated that the porous structure had a pre-determined direction, which followed the direction of the extrusion process.

Hemicellulose

Starch

Image analysis

Extrusion

X-ray microtomography

Författare

Kristina Karlsson

Chalmers, Industri- och materialvetenskap, Konstruktionsmaterial

Emanuel Larsson

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Niklas Lorén

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Mats Stading

Chalmers, Industri- och materialvetenskap, Konstruktionsmaterial

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Mikael Rigdahl

Chalmers, Industri- och materialvetenskap, Konstruktionsmaterial

Journal of Polymers and the Environment

1566-2543 (ISSN) 15728919 (eISSN)

Vol. 27 6 1167-1177

Ämneskategorier

Polymerkemi

Polymerteknologi

Kompositmaterial och -teknik

DOI

10.1007/s10924-019-01412-3

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2019-11-03