An extrusion system that can create a polymer/gas solution rapidly for continuous processing of microcellular plastics is presented. Microcellular plastics are characterized by cell densities greater than 109 cells/cm3 and fully grown cells smaller than 10 μm. Previously these microcellular structures have been produced in a batch process by saturating a polymeric material with an inert gas under high pressure followed by inducing a rapid drop in the gas solubility. The diffusion phenomena encountered in this batch processing is typically slow, resulting in long cycle times. In order to produce microcellular plastics at industrial production rates, a means for the rapid solution formation is developed. The processing time required for completing the solution formation in the system was estimated from experimental data and the dispersive mixing theory based on an order-of-magnitude analysis. A means for promoting high bubble nucleation rates in the gas-saturated polymer via rapid heating is also discussed. The feasibility of the continuous production of microcellular plastics by the rapid polymer/gas solution formation and rapid heating was demonstrated through experiments. The paper includes not only a brief treatment of the basic science of the polymer/gas systems, but also the development of an industrially viable technology that fully utilizes the unique properties of microcellular plastics.
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