This book is the first to provide a unified presentation of foam extrusion technology from scientific basics to engineering practice. The editor and authors are specialists in this technology who bring to this book their extensive collective experience in foam extrusion research, engineering and production. This volume will be a valuable resource for all those involved in foamed plastics R&D, engineering, processing and applications. This book brings dissimilarly natured foaming and extrusion under one cover. Starting with fundamentals, gas molecules in polymer, then moving to separation, gaseous voids in polymer, scientific foundations are laid in such a way that the microscopic transition from a nuclei to a void (nucleation) and macroscopic movement from a void to an object (formation) are plausibly addressed.

Contents Include:
Introduction; Statistical Thermodynamics of Gas Solubility in Polymers; Rheology of Thermoplastic Foam Extrusion Process; Foam Nucleation in Gas-Dispersed Polymeric Systems; Foam Growth in Polymers; Polymeric Foaming Simulation: Batch and Continuous; Process Design for Thermoplastic Foam Extrusion; Foam Extrusion Machinery Features; Mixing Design for Foam Extrusion: Analysis and Practices; Foaming Agents for Foam Extrusion; Continuous Production of High-Density and Low-Density Microcellular Plastics in Extrusion; Foam Extrusion of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET).