Journal article

Liquid Silicone Rubber Foamed with Thermoplastic Expandable Microspheres



Publication Details
Authors:
Marl, S.; Giesen, R.; Heim, H.

Publication year:
2022
Journal:
Materials
Pages range :
3779
Volume number:
15
Issue number:
11
ISSN:
1996-1944
eISSN:
1996-1944
DOI-Link der Erstveröffentlichung:


Abstract

To reduce the material costs as well as the density of Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR), LSR foams can be produced in an injection molding process. Expandable thermoplastic microspheres can be used as blowing agents. This publication deals with the analysis of the cell structure of these LSR foams. For this purpose, cylindrical disks are injection molded and examined for their cell structure as a function of different proportions of microspheres using a scanning electron spectroscope. In addition, the density of the samples is determined. It was found that a very homogeneous cell structure is produced in this process, that heat transport has a significant influence on the expansion of the microspheres, and that the formation of a filler network limits the expansion at higher proportions of blowing agent.



Keywords
foams, injection molding, liquid silicone rubber, LSR, thermoplastic expandable microspheres

Last updated on 2025-28-01 at 10:30