Fabrication of branching poly (butylene succinate)/cellulose nanocrystal foams with exceptional thermal insulation

Dexian Yin; Jianguo Mi; Hongfu Zhou; Xiangdong Wang; Huafeng Tian

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116708

Fabrication of branching poly (butylene succinate)/cellulose nanocrystal foams with exceptional thermal insulation

Carbohydr Polym. 2020 Nov 1:247:116708. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116708. Epub 2020 Jul 2.

Authors

Dexian Yin¹, Jianguo Mi², Hongfu Zhou³, Xiangdong Wang¹, Huafeng Tian⁴

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Key Laboratory of Quality Evaluation Technology for Hygiene and Safety of Plastics, School of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, People's Republic of China.
² State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, People's Republic of China.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory of Quality Evaluation Technology for Hygiene and Safety of Plastics, School of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: zhouhongfu@th.btbu.edu.cn.
⁴ Beijing Key Laboratory of Quality Evaluation Technology for Hygiene and Safety of Plastics, School of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: tianhuafeng@th.btbu.edu.cn.

PMID: 32829836
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116708

Abstract

Branching poly (butylene succinate) (BPBS) nanocomposite foams incorporated with cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were prepared by supercritical CO₂. Surface modification of CNCs by acetylation was achieved through replacing hydrophilic hydroxyl groups with hydrophobic acetyl groups, which improved the dispersibility of CNCs significantly. The crystallite sizes of CNCs and acetylated CNCs were calculated by Scherrer's formula as 25 and 19 nm, respectively. The initial crystallization temperature of diverse poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) specimens, a crucial factor for regulating cell nucleation type, increased remarkably by 11.8 °C as well as their storage modulus increased by 2 orders of magnitudes, due to branching reaction and bio-filler addition. BPBS/CNCs foam possessed a high volume expansion ratio as 37.1 times and displayed an exceptional thermal conductivity as 0.021 W(m K)^-1. This study provided a promising potential strategy to develop exceptional thermal-insulation polymer foams for composite structures, energy conservation and environment protection.

Keywords: Cellulose nanocrystals; Exceptional thermal insulation; Foams; Poly (butylene succinate); Supercritical CO(2).