Thermoplastic Foams: Processing, Manufacturing, and Characterization
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Composites and Nanocomposites".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 718
Special Issue Editor
Interests: product design; product design; characteristics of polymer materials; polyurethane foam; reinforced composites; flame-retardant polymer composites; biocomposites and polymer bioadditives; self-healing composites
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The Special Issue titled “Thermoplastic Foams: Processing, Production, and Characterization” contains articles in the form of full articles or review articles on topics related to the synthesis, characterization, modification, and processing of porous polymer composites for various applications.
Polymer foams, thanks to specific properties such as lightness, reduced thermal conductivity, high energy absorption and excellent strength-to-weight ratio, have found many applications in various fields of industry and everyday life. The range of possible applications includes transport, bedding, carpet underlays, textiles, toys, sports instruments, insulation devices, as well as the construction, biomedical and automotive sectors. Foam is essentially a polymer matrix in which gas is enclosed, giving the material a microcellular structure. Due to the structure of the cells, foams can be rigid or flexible, with a closed or open cell structure. The morphology of the foam itself provides unlimited possibilities in imparting new properties to the prepared foams, not to mention the type of polymer material or additives, which may also affect the possibility of obtaining foams with different/improved properties.
However, due to the need to reduce the carbon footprint and the consumption of petroleum-based raw materials, there is a constant search for new raw materials for obtaining polymer composites, including foams, that will meet the growing market requirements and environmental standards. Hence, scientists are increasingly making efforts to produce polymer biocomposites, which will at least partially eliminate the need to use petrochemical raw materials and will give the green light to the use of biomass or recyclates.
Manuscripts related to the following topics are of interest for this Special Issue:
- Thermoplastic, thermoset and elastomeric-based foams;
- Biopolymer-based and biodegradable polymer foams;
- High-temperature and high-performance polymer foams;
- Flame retardant foams;
- Composite and nanocomposite foams;
- Microcellular, submicrocellular and nanocellular foams;
- Closed, open and interconnected cell foams;
- Innovative foaming methods and technologies;
- Thermally and electrically conductive polymer foams;
- Polymer foams with increased thermal insulation;
- Polymer foams with increased specific mechanical properties;
- Recycling and reuse of polymer foams.
I am pleased to invite you to submit manuscripts for this Special Issue. Full articles and reviews are welcome.
Dr. Anna Strąkowska
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- polymeric foams
- cellular structure
- manoporous foams
- porous biocomposites
- closed-cell structure
- open-cell structure
- insulating properties
- functional foams
