Reduction of time‐releasing ammonia from polymer foam using low acidic polymers

Abstract

Polymer foams are used in everyday life for industrial and household applications. However, the time‐releasing ammonia is environmentally harmful that becomes attractive. Here, we introduce a technically advanced synthetic process for the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) foam, in which the emission of ammonia gas is significantly reduced by using the polymeric acids. The PVC foam has processed with azodicarbonamide (ADCA) as a chemical blowing agent after the solid type polymeric acid is mixed as supporting agent. While the characteristic properties such as specific gravity (density) and chromaticity of PVC foams are not critically changed, the reduction of time‐releasing ammonia is up to 85% compared to the PVC foam without polymeric acid. This is attributed to the cell structure with small sub‐cells and lots of connecting channels and the chemically capturing ammonia of polymeric acids.