Rheological Comparison of Chemical and Physical Blowing Agents in a Thermoplastic Polyolefin

The influences of popular blowing agents (BAs), both chemical and physical types, in solution with a thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) were investigated with an in-line capillary rheometer nozzle attached to a conventional reciprocating 55-ton injection molding machine. In the experiments, two types of masterbatch chemical BAs (endothermic and exothermic type) were dry mixed with the TPO resin and compared against two types of physical BAs (carbon dioxide and nitrogen) directly injected into a specially designed injection nozzle containing static mixer elements (SMX type). The effects of the main processing conditions (injection speed, pressure, temperature, and BA type and concentration) on the TPO melt rheology were studied. The viscosity reduction behaviors of chemical BAs and physical BAs were compared. The type of BA had a strong influence on the viscosity reduction behavior of the TPO melt, with the maximum viscosity reduction of 47% with 3.2 wt % CO2 at 250 °C. Both physical and chemical BAs were found to successfully fit a previously developed viscosity model for single-phase gas-polymer solutions.