Extrusion Parameters for Foaming of a β-Glucan Concentrate
(2019) In Journal of Polymers and the Environment 27. p.1167-1177- Abstract
Plastics is a group of materials commonly encountered on a daily basis by many people. They have enabled rapid, low-cost manufacturing of products with complicated geometries and have contributed to the weight reduction of heavy components, especially when produced into a foamed structure. Despite the many advantages of plastics, some drawbacks such as the often fossil-based raw-material and the extensive littering of the material in nature, where it is not degraded for a very long time, needs to be dealt with. One way to address at least one of the issues could be to use polymers from nature instead of fossil-based ones. Here, a β-glucan concentrate originating from barley was investigated. The concentrate was processed into a foam by... (More)
Plastics is a group of materials commonly encountered on a daily basis by many people. They have enabled rapid, low-cost manufacturing of products with complicated geometries and have contributed to the weight reduction of heavy components, especially when produced into a foamed structure. Despite the many advantages of plastics, some drawbacks such as the often fossil-based raw-material and the extensive littering of the material in nature, where it is not degraded for a very long time, needs to be dealt with. One way to address at least one of the issues could be to use polymers from nature instead of fossil-based ones. Here, a β-glucan concentrate originating from barley was investigated. The concentrate was processed into a foam by hot-melt extrusion, and the processing window was established. The effect of different blowing agents was also investigated. Water or a combination of water and sodium bicarbonate were used as blowing agents, the latter apparently giving a more uniform pore structure. The porous structure of the foamed materials was characterized mainly by using a combination of confocal laser scanning microscope and image analysis. The density of the samples was estimated and found to be in a similar range as some polyurethane foams. A set of 3D parameters were also quantified on two selected samples using X-ray microtomography in combination with image analysis, where it was indicated that the porous structure had a pre-determined direction, which followed the direction of the extrusion process.
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- author
- Karlsson, Kristina LU ; Larsson, Emanuel LU ; Lorén, Niklas ; Stading, Mats and Rigdahl, Mikael
- publishing date
- 2019-03-11
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Extrusion, Hemicellulose, Image analysis, Starch, X-ray microtomography
- in
- Journal of Polymers and the Environment
- volume
- 27
- pages
- 1167 - 1177
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85062840732
- ISSN
- 1566-2543
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10924-019-01412-3
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 584d07fb-16d5-4017-9024-67167d75c980
- date added to LUP
- 2020-09-04 09:25:49
- date last changed
- 2022-04-11 04:08:48
@article{584d07fb-16d5-4017-9024-67167d75c980,
abstract = {{<p>Plastics is a group of materials commonly encountered on a daily basis by many people. They have enabled rapid, low-cost manufacturing of products with complicated geometries and have contributed to the weight reduction of heavy components, especially when produced into a foamed structure. Despite the many advantages of plastics, some drawbacks such as the often fossil-based raw-material and the extensive littering of the material in nature, where it is not degraded for a very long time, needs to be dealt with. One way to address at least one of the issues could be to use polymers from nature instead of fossil-based ones. Here, a β-glucan concentrate originating from barley was investigated. The concentrate was processed into a foam by hot-melt extrusion, and the processing window was established. The effect of different blowing agents was also investigated. Water or a combination of water and sodium bicarbonate were used as blowing agents, the latter apparently giving a more uniform pore structure. The porous structure of the foamed materials was characterized mainly by using a combination of confocal laser scanning microscope and image analysis. The density of the samples was estimated and found to be in a similar range as some polyurethane foams. A set of 3D parameters were also quantified on two selected samples using X-ray microtomography in combination with image analysis, where it was indicated that the porous structure had a pre-determined direction, which followed the direction of the extrusion process.</p>}},
author = {{Karlsson, Kristina and Larsson, Emanuel and Lorén, Niklas and Stading, Mats and Rigdahl, Mikael}},
issn = {{1566-2543}},
keywords = {{Extrusion; Hemicellulose; Image analysis; Starch; X-ray microtomography}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{03}},
pages = {{1167--1177}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Journal of Polymers and the Environment}},
title = {{Extrusion Parameters for Foaming of a β-Glucan Concentrate}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10924-019-01412-3}},
doi = {{10.1007/s10924-019-01412-3}},
volume = {{27}},
year = {{2019}},
}