Porous bead foam from semi-aromatic polycarbonate /polyester blend by supercritical carbon dioxide batch foaming

Poly(methyl ethylene carbonate)-co-phthalate (PPCP) is a new type semi-aromatic polymer derived from carbon dioxide that is completely biodegradable. It is still challenging to prepare PPCP foams with excellent compression and resilience properties due to its high brittleness and low melt viscosity at high temperatures. In this study, PPCP/PBAT bead foams with relatively higher compressive strength, better elasticity, and benign heat resistance were prepared by the autoclave batch foaming method using supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO 2 ) as blowing agent. PPCP/PBAT blend foaming samples with different ratios were prepared to investigate the relationship between the amount of PBAT added and the foam morphology. When 20 % PBAT was added, the PPCP/PBAT foam had the largest expansion (23.2), the smallest cell size (166.6 μm), and the largest cell density (28.8 × 10 5 cells/cm 3 ). Furthermore, compared with the addition of PBAT, the effect of cell structure on the compression properties of PPCP/PBAT foams was more remarkable. Preferably, PPCP 60 /PBAT 40 and PPCP 50 /PBAT 50 foams with less deformation ( E y ≥ 3.3 MPa) and better recovery (≥50 %, up to 74 % by ten cycles of compression), as well as pure PPCP foams with relatively higher compressive strengths (0.76 MPa), were prepared with the same method. Compared to common foams reported in other literatures, the prepared PPCP/PBAT foams had comparable densities and significantly higher compression properties. • Twin semi-aromatic porous bead foam of PPCP and PBAT is fabricated by simple autoclave batch foaming method. • PPCP/PBAT matrix has better melt strength and toughness mechanics than PPCP. • Phase separation resulting in the formation of more cell nuclei was verified by morphology and thermal testing. • PPCP/PBAT foam exhibits high compressive strength and preferable high recovery rate in cyclic compression tests.