Development of bio-based poly(butylene succinate) formulations for microcellular injection foaming

Manufacturing lightweight plastic parts with high productivity while maintaining a high level of quality and excellent reproducibility of cellular structure reduces the amount of raw material needed while improving the carbon balance thanks to the bio-sourced origin of the polymer and the decrease of the transported mass. In this study, structural modifications of PBS were carried out in order to control the foaming mechanism in each phase of cell formation (gas dissolution, cell nucleation, cell growth and cell stabilization). Cell morphology has been improved by modifying the molecular architecture (ramified/branched, semi-reticulate structures), promoting nucleation (decrease of surface tension leading to a decrease in Gibbs’s energy barrier), or by adjusting the extensional viscosity or Newtonien viscosity of the material. The resulting formulation exhibits a decrease of more than 80% in cell size and a cell density multiplied by 450 regarding the linear structured injection moulding PBS reference FZ71 (Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC), Japan) noted here L-PBS.