PET Foam Board Extrusion Processing Guide

Feininger has been focusing on polymer physical foaming technology for 18 years. The craftsmanship, valuing details, and seeking perfection, are embedded in the corporate culture. Feininger's PET foaming technology keeps up with the development of the times and contributes to the wind power industry in China, which speeds up the replacement of wind power blade core materials.

PET Raw Materials

The type of PET raw materials influences the final product performance. It is of great significance to choose the appropriate grade PET. PET should be stored in a cool, dry, and clean warehouse in batches, avoiding fire, heat sources, and direct exposure to sunlight. When PET bags are in transportation, they should be covered with rainproof cloth and away from the mechanical collision. PET raw materials should be kept sealed until it is poured into the feeding system of the PET foaming line for production operation.

Additives

PET extrusion foaming requires special additives such as chain extenders and nucleating agents to make PET foam into foam boards with uniform and fine cells. Additives should be dried according to the extrusion process of different equipment before use to achieve their best performance. Feininger can suggest certain grade PET additives that improve the PET foam board cell structure.

Drying System

PET can be successfully dried in most standard drying systems. If necessary, Feininger can provide customers with the related technical data to help the customer make a good decision in choosing drying systems. The drying system is very important in the PET extrusion process. It is recommended to dry the PET to a certain amount of moisture because measured by the Karl Fischer method, the moisture content below a certain moisture level will have a positive effect on the stability of the polymer, and will increase viscosity stability with time at high temperatures. PET should be extruded with low moisture content to maximize the retention of molecular weight and physical properties. PET should be kept sealed. Unused PET and other materials should be dried and re-sealed immediately when production suspension. The drying system should be set at the recommended temperature.

Melt Extrusion

Feininger PET foam board production line adopts supercritical carbon dioxide pure physical foaming technology to obtain low-density structured foam boards with uniform and compact cells. The basic principle is to use a high-shear extruder to quickly mix modified PET with supercritical carbon dioxide. After mixing, the solubility is improved by adjusting the process parameters such as temperature and pressure. The gas is dissolved in PET with a certain viscosity, and after passing through the mold outlet, it expands rapidly and is wrapped in the PET solution to form a closed-cell structure foam. The core patent is to solve a lot of exploration and research on materials, equipment, and molds, find the relationship between the three in a small foamable space and obtain key parameters for controlling foam strength and density.

Feininger PET foaming production line adopts solid-phase polycondensation and tackifying PET technology to improve the intrinsic viscosity and melt strength of PET, overcoming the shortcomings that ordinary PET is not able to be foamed to be used to produce the high-strength, high-modulus, and high-magnification products. The characteristics of the two-stage continuous extrusion foaming process can realize the continuous production of PET foam products on an industrial scale and improve the production efficiency greatly. By processing PET foam boards with auxiliary machines, customers can make PET foam core materials for wind power blades.

We have already introduced the PET foam board extrusion processing in detail. If you have any questions, you can contact our technical staff online. In addition to PET production lines, Feininger also produces XPS line, ETPU production lines, EPS production lines, and recycling and pelletizing machine, which can meet any of your needs.