Development and characterization of innovative biopolymer foams

Abstract

Our development goal was to create foamed polymer systems based on biodegradable and renewable resource-based polymers. We used polylactic acid (PLA) and several types of chemical foaming agents (endothermic and exothermic), and produced foam samples by extrusion. We characterized and analyzed the foam samples with a wide range of tests (determining the cell structure, void fraction, compressive strength, etc.). Based on our tests, we showed the difference between the foaming agents and produced PLA-based foams with a void fraction of 57%.