foaming

The research activities regarding foaming processes have as their objective the fundamental study of the phenomena that control the nucleation and growth of gas bubbles in polymeric systems through the use of physical and chemical expanding agents and include thermodynamics and transport phenomena of polymer / gas systems.

The control of the expansion process and of the final cellular morphology is managed, in addition to intervening on the traditional process parameters (temperature, pressure, concentration of the expanding agent, expansion rate), also through innovative approaches based on a) development of polymeric mixtures with differential and / or selective absorption of the expander in the phases, b) control of the chemical-physical and rheological properties of the polymeric system to be expanded, c) nanometric additives with different degrees of compatibility with the polymer, which can modify the nucleation and growth mechanisms of gas bubbles during the formation of the cell structure.