Mr. Yoshikawa’s paper was accepted by the journal of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research(IF:4.326)

2023/03/27: Category - news

Mr. Yoshikawa’s paper entitled”In-Line Monitoring of the Physical Blowing Agent Concentration by Transmission Near-Infrared Spectroscopy with High-Pressure Resistance Fiber Optic Probes for Foam Injection Molding Processes”,  Authors: Yoshikawa, Itsuki; Hosoe, Shunsuke; Hikima, Yuta; Watari, Masahiro; Ohshima, Masahiro,  was accepted by the journal of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research(IF:4.326)

Abstract:

ABSTRACT

Control of the physical blowing agent (PBA) concentration in polymers is critical in achieving stable production of polymeric foams. However, there are very few in-line chemical monitoring techniques for foam injection molding (FIM) processes. The difficulty in sensor application with regard to FIM comes from nonsteady state operations, where the temperature and pressure temporarily change dynamically. We invented an in-house fiber optic near-infrared (NIR) probe with high-pressure and high-temperature resistances and applied it to the transmission NIR spectroscopy of FIM processes to monitor the PBA, i.e., CO₂, dissolved in the molten polymer. The CO₂ concentration was successfully monitored from the CO₂ absorption spectra at 4952 cm^-1 and the polymer’s absorption spectra even at a 120 MPa injection pressure and 200 °C processing temperature. Furthermore, the phase separation of CO₂ from the polymer before injection was detected from the decrease in transmittance of the NIR spectra.