Novel polycarbonate-graphene nanocomposite foams prepared by CO2 dissolution

Abstract

Polycarbonate foams reinforced with 0,5 wt% of graphene were obtained by firstly melt-mixing the polycarbonate and graphene in an internal mixer, compression-moulding the melt-compounded grinded material and lastly dissolving CO2 inside a high pressure vessel. The CO2 desorption behaviour in the unfilled polycarbonate and nanocomposite was studied in terms of the CO2 saturation concentration and desorption diffusion coefficient, with the graphene-filled nanocomposite displaying a higher CO2 loss rate when compared to the neat polycarbonate. The cellular structure of the foams was found to be highly dependent on the saturation/foaming temperature, with smaller cell sizes being obtained with decreasing the temperature. Another parameter that had an important influence was the residual pressure, with higher residual pressure values resulting in foams with more uniform and regular cells.